Where To Go Next

Everything up to this point — variables, control flow, functions, arrays, pointers, memory, and files — is enough to build real programs. The rest of C is mostly combinations and refinements of these same ideas.

Projects worth building

• A command-line to-do list — practice structs, arrays, and file I/O together by saving tasks to disk.
• A simple text adventure — practice control flow, strings, and program structure across multiple files.
• A linked list from scratch — the natural next data structure once pointers and malloc feel comfortable; it's a small, self-contained way to practice both.
• A basic hash table or dynamic array — forces you to think carefully about realloc and memory ownership.

Topics beyond this course

• Linked lists, stacks, queues, and trees — data structures built directly from structs and pointers.
• Function pointers — storing and passing functions themselves as values.
• The standard library in depth — <math.h>, <time.h>, and <ctype.h> cover most everyday needs beyond what this course touched.
• Bitwise operators — &, |, ^, <<, >>, for working directly with individual bits.
• Build systems — make or CMake, for projects with many source files.
• How C connects to systems programming — processes, the standard library's relationship to system calls, and eventually reading real-world C codebases.

1/* Before moving on, you should be comfortable:
2 * - reading a compiler warning and knowing what it means
3 * - tracing what a pointer points to, by hand, on paper
4 * - explaining why every malloc needs a free
5 * - splitting a small program across a .c and .h file
6 */