Reviews for Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing)

1. Ramble on

   Rated 3 out of 5 stars, March 12rd, 2010

   While I did find this book useful and informative I do think that it could do with some judicious editing to remove the unnecessary tendency to wander off into historical reminisciences (pdp-11s and graphics terminals for instance) and complete irrelevancies (half a page talking about the different versions of awk that isn't relevant to this book and only appeared in an example of interpreterlists in execs).
   If it were run through a compiler then a number of errors would be thrown up in relation to references to undeclared functions caused by forward referencing to functions described in later sections or chapters without indicating this which may confuse the reader.

2. Where is AIX, HP/UX, among other majors?

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, November 12rd, 2006

   This book is a fantastic starting point in life. Some how our public schools over look teaching the fundamental skills presented in this book. We learn how to play with toys on simple computers and never really learn what we are doing.
   
   The real strength of this book is in the definitions. We get to see the purpose and flexibility of system calls and functions. Not just use them but understand them. UNIX functions as job control or signals are explained in detail. Let's take just one item "waitpid":
   
   The waitpid function provides three features that aren't provided by the wait function.
   
   You will have to red the book to find out what they are. However there are examples also. Now for people with real systems like AIX all you have to do is ad a "k" to the front of the call and you have the AIX kernel function call "kwaitpid"; voila you now have an understanding that can not be found clearly in a Red Book.
   
   It does help some to have a preunderstanding of the system do you can use the book to fill in the education holes missed when necessary.
   
   The index is worth its weight in gold as you can find functions headers and concepts all in alphabetical order. My favorite is the definitions.
   
   As much as I am a fan of the internet it also pays to carry the information in the form of a book. And all this book has to do is save a couple of hours and it has paid for its self.
   

3. Very, very cool! One of the kind!

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, March 12nd, 2006

   This book is a very nice overview of contemporary conceptions of what is operating system would be and it discusses many facets of the issue. It does not overwhelm with technical details and does not press too much. I also followed an advise in someone's review and purchased "UNIX Essentials" DVD that is complete UNIX course recorded. These two nicely complement one another. You watch it and you read it. If you didn't catch it from the first try you watch it again and read it again. In two months I found myself confident to that extend that gave advises to our system administrator and he accepted them because there were subjects that he wasn't completely sure. What I can say, in three month I passed my first interview and got a job! Sure it is a way to start there much of more advanced reading that will take over you with a time however these two provide you with the BASIS!
   I can't overstate how much I have learned from them. Don't be naive, though. You will have to learn and memorize many things. The fact of owning neither book nor DVD will not make you knowledgeable, but if you will work it trough, trust me, you will surprise many people around!

4. Can't wait for this

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, June 12th, 2005

   The ultimate classic, UPDATED works! Can't wait to get started on this. The only thing with these books though, is that no matter how updated they are, the basics will still remain.. A lot of redundant material, but even still - always worth reiterating. Use it or lose it, people.