I forgot to tell you about the book. Sorry.

The book is called The C Programing LanguageSecond Edition by Brian W. Kernigan and Dennis M. Ritchie. The second edition gives the ANSI C standard for C.

Thank you Martimus. I appreciate it!

Tova,

If the C is over his head, I have a REALLY geeky suggestion for you:

If you guys can find an Apple II, TRS-80 or Commodore 64 emulator program for your computer, my kids have a bunch of old 3-2-1 Contact! magazines they were given by a friend that have various BASIC programs in the back. Now, mind you, BASIC isn't the same as C, but the same concepts apply I'd be happy to send copies to you if you wanted to go this route (I have to keep the original, though, as I have an old Apple IIc I'm going to fire up to teach my kids the concept).

It is also possible, although I haven't checked into it, that they could have some kid sites with short programs that kids can put together on an XP computer.

If the C is over his head, I have a REALLY geeky suggestion for you:

Thanks Gid, we will try the C first and see how that goes once he gets back on track with his school work.

I appreciate the offer. Thanks!

Judging by the computer problems you're having (won't shut off and the hard drive is very loud), it sounds like there may be some hardware issues. While that's a pain, it's probably worth a call to the store where you bought it to see if they can fix those two problems.

I won't say that either problem definitely will kill your PC, but neither one is a good sign, and either one could kill it.

Especially the unwillingness to shut off is just a plain malfunction. No way to know how serious it is, but if you have the time, the best way to save money is to hold the store accountable for the computer they sold you. Call them on the phone, explain the problem, and ask them if you can come in and have them fix it.

That's one down side to computers: They're very cool and powerful, but they can take a surprising amount of time (yours or somebody you pay!) to keep running. Most machines run without a hitch for years, then get very cranky for no reason I can ever figure out! It just comes with the territory...

On the powering down mode, one thing that works on many PCs is to press the power button down, and hold it down while you slowly count to 5. "Thousand one, thousand two..." On several different types of machines, that's what they call a "hard power down".

Hope this helps!