Customer Reviews

Beginning Linux Programming

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an excellent, large book. And as its title suggests it is for "begginers". It covers a wide range of topics, starting from shell programming and ending with device drivers.
- Most likely, as in my case, you will read a large subset of the chapters in this book, but not everything.
- This book covers a lot of the old APIs as well, thus, you will learn to write portable code which will run under different Linux distributions (and under UNIX too).
- This book is a *MUST* for anyone starting in the Linux development world.
- One problem though, in my opinon, it should cover a little less of the "OLD" stuff and it should include MORE about the "NEW" stuff, especially about the LATEST/GREATEST 2.6.x kernel.
- I really liked the fact that it covers few basics about Linux kernel programming and device drivers in chapter 18.
- For more info about specific topics (in addition to this title), I suggest the following:
A) Linux Networking -> "The definitive guide to Linux Network Programming"
B) Linux Kernel Programming -> "Linux Kernel Development (2nd Edition - by Robert Love)"
C) Device Drivers -> "Linux Device Drivers, 3rd Edition"
D) Another excellent book addressing the same topics -> "GNU/Linux Application Programming, by M. Tim Jones"

I have approximately 5 feet of bookshelf space dedicated to linux books, by now. While many have detail that surpasses this book, none are written as clearly. I enjoyed the writing style as much as the information conveyed. You will not be disappointed with this tome.

A word of warning, however. This book, while a beginning introduction to many topics, is not for beginning programmers. If you do not already know C, shop for another book. The authors hit the ground running and do not stop to explain pointers and other syntactic minutia. This probably will not be a problem for most of you. Why would a complete novice jump into device drivers? Still, do not be fooled by the "Beginning" in the title. You are introduced to some fairly hairy concepts most programmers seldom delve into (system calls, for example).

Am I happy with this book? You bet. If every Wrox book is as expertly edited and authored, then O'reily has some stiff competition. By the way, do not ever purchase a book with the words "Unleashed", "Maximum", or "Que" on the cover. You'll regret it.

If you are a sysadmin or want to learn programming on UNIX/LINUX you must have this book. I have several books on C and several on other languages I would trade them all for this. It covers the basics (essentials) that other books written exclusively for one language don't even touch on. I explains how all of the languages covered interplay with UNIX/LINUX.

The first chapter covers programs, the C compiler, header files, staic libraries, and shared libraries. It explains they all come together to make a program in a way that it can be understood

The second chapter covers UNIX shell scripts at length. I have good book on shell scripts, and this chapter alone is just as good as that book.

The third chapter covers working with UNIX files, system calls, library functions etc... The sample programs all work as they are supposed to. Everything is clearly explained and easily understood.

The 4th chapter covers passing arguments to C programs, envorment variables, temporary files, configuring logs, and system resources.

I have not read any further, because I've only had this book a week. I've been looking for a book like this for a few years. It talks about how C and other languages interface with LINUX/UNIX rather than just giving you the pure language and leaving you to fend for yourself.

Other chapters include:
5) Terminals
6) Curses
7) Data Management
8) Development Tools
9) Debugging
10) Processes and Signals
11) POSIX Threads

12) Inter-process Communication: Pipes
13) Semaphores, Mesage Queues, and Shared Memory,
14) Socets
15) TCL: Tool Command Language
16) Programming for X
17) Programming for GNOME using GTK+
18) The Perl Programming Language
19) Programming for the Internet: HTML
20) Internet Programming 2: CGI
21) Device Drivers
Appendex A) Portability
Appendex B) FSF and the GNU Project
Appendex C) Internet Resources
Appendex D) Bibliography

If you are only get one book on programming, this is the one you need. I have at least 8 other books on various programming languages, and this one is better than all of them combined. This book is 900 pages packed full information, and it's easily understood. The sample programs all work and are well documented.

I write this review after reading only four chapters, because the information I have gotten out of them is worth way more than the price of this book. This book gives you all the pieces to the puzzles and tells you how to put it together. This book can be used by advanced programmers as well to fill in any knowlege gaps they may have. This book gets my highest recommendation, as it will be by my side for years to come.

This book will bring you up to speed on the Linux API. My only complaint is that it skims the surfaces. Take out the sections on Tcl, HTML, Perl, and CGI; they are so basic that they are useless anyway, and they don't fit in here. "Beginning Linux Programming" has the potential be the master of all of the Linux books if they would cut out these non-Linux topics and replace them with more Linux information.

For example, I loved the compiler section but it stopped short on shared libraries to save room for Perl and CGI later in the book. If the authors are listening: the cover of the book says Linux programming, not web programming.

As for the presentation of the book: Great examples, great explainations, and very clear.

This is a really cool book, not only technically, but a decent read also. It covers all the major Linux languages: C, TCL/TK, Perl, Shell programming, etc. It's not just a cornucopia of different dialects, though, it's clear the authors are true bilinguals: all the examples are well coded, commented and generally do things in the way I would!.

Anyone who finishes this book to be able to write pretty much anything they please. It shows you stuff from small utilities for the command line to full GUI-driven database apps. There is a section on writing device drivers and kernel hacking, there's also another section on writing HTML. It really is that broad and encompassing, I refer to it time and time again.

Although this book is called 'Beginning Linux Programming', it's clear that a lot of the skills you'll gain from this book are transferable to other platforms, thanks to POSIX, X/Open, et al.

One possible criticism is that KDE programming is not covered (except, the TCL/TK programs will obviously work under KDE, as will the GNOME programs if you have the correct libraries installed). However, the book had to end somewhere, and for the bang-per-buck (this is a big book) the value-for-money is quite amazing.

And, to top it all off, it has a foreword by Alan Cox, Linux demi-god uber-geek. If that's not a recommendation, nothing is!

I just finished this book after about 4 months of off and on reading and working (most of) the examples. I've already been able to put the knowledge I gained from it to work at my job at Travelocity.com - my biggest frustration was that I had to wait until I came home to continue reading it. This book will play a prominent part in my work bookshelf.
One caveat - it says it's for beginners, but almost all of the examples are in C, using some pretty advanced constructs. If you're still rusty with pointer syntax (for example), brush up on your C programming first. Also, like most Linux source, the examples are in straight-C rather than C++, but this is probably a Good Thing.

Also, there's a chapter at the end on writing device drivers - I couldn't get any of the examples to compile on my Redhat system running kernel version 2.4.9; I guess they're due for another edition of this book.

All in all, one of the best computer books I've ever read!

This book as written on the title, is for beginner who wants learn Linux programming. However, you should have some basic of C programming language before reading this book (if you know what is pointer, and how to use pointer to pointer, that is enough). Mostly of the code (80%) in this book is written in C. This book explains very well what do you need to be a Linux programmer. Like, how to make the Makefile, how to use CVS for group development, how to program for X, etc. With 945 pages, and 21 Chapters + Appendixes, I think they did their jobs by keeping the explanation about each aspect of Linux programming in the right portion on each chapter.

I've been looking for the opportunity to rave about this book. It is by far the best UNIX/Linux book I've ever read. The part that got my attention is that while it covers several different programming topics, it isn't afraid to get down to the details. From the program management tools to the low-level system calls, every line is explained. The text is full of examples to illustrate the concepts presented which include sockets, database structures, and inter-process communication. Not exactly introductory topics, but the writers have made them as straightforward as your first "Hello World" program. From shell scripting to CGI, it's all here; and in the same visually appealing style that distinguish other books by Wrox Press. I anxiously await a follow-up to Beginning Linux Programming

I found this book an excellent introduction for wide range of topics which can be roughly bundled as Linux programming topics (but I think that there's more inside). If you're looking for a book which will cover many topics in a quick-yet-not-that-shallow tutorial, then I highly recommend this book. This book covers many, many important topics from the basics of Linux/UNIX such as terminals, shell programming(scripting), through more proramming issues like Inter Programming Communication (IPC), X programming, debugging and building issues under Linux to the more sysadmin oriented topics such as Perl, HTML programming, etc'. It also includes many other important things, which can be easily viewed in it's TOC... . What I can add is that it's explanation and building of the chapters is very good. This book covers many topics so each chapter isn't too deep, but yet not shallow at all. Most of the time, at the right ratio.

So, all in all, I think the authors did a good job in the balance between delving into details and coverage of wide range of topics.

I recommend this book to the following: 1. Junior sysadmins (like me!): just make sure you go through an extensive C/C++ tutorial (C++ even better) before getting this one. Go through *all* of this book's chapters. It'll teach you ALOT more than you know about Linux and it'll give you in depth understanding of many things. 2. Programmers in Linux: Well, this is just your first step but, IMHO, it's very important to know your surroundings even if you'de never mess with some of the book's stuff in the future. 3. Every "Linux lover"/hacker (not cracker!) out there. Get this book. you'll love it. It'll feed you with a perfect mixture of topics/details about the Linux system.

What can I say this book is good.

Even if you are a novice C or C++ programmer, or just looking for more in depth information on GNU/Linux or Unix systems you would be hard pressed to go past this book.

The book covers a myriad of topics from bash shell script programming to X and GTK topics, HTML and CGI scripts!

It does it in an easy to read style, with good examples that will let you find out whats going on and then allow you to work them into your own programs and code with minimum fuss.

There is even, in chapter 21, an introduction into kernel module development and device drivers for GNU/Linux that goes a long way towards de-mystiying this (to me) mysterious topic.

In all of the topics there is an explantion of common pitfalls that occur, and even better good sensible ways of avoiding them or overcoming them.

Do yourself a favour if you are just beginning C or C++ programming in the GNU/Linux or Unix enviroments get this book, it will make your life much much easier!