Get a VM running NetBSD or OpenBSD and check out the source code and play with it!

> how to write real code

There are many ways, a codebase would be a better resource than a book.

I agree. The Guide doesn't give many real-world examples (there are zillions of those already out in the real world). It's about how to swing a hammer and turn a screwdriver, not how to build a house.

That said, I try to make K&R-idiomatic examples when I can. They're just small-scale.

That's tricky, though. It would be a bad idea to learn C++ from my code, even though it works well enough.

And until you're well along the path to guruhood yourself, you won't know if you're reading good code or bad code.