The Definitive Guide to Linux Network Programming (Expert's Voice) [Paperback]

Keir Davis (Author), John W. Turner (Author), Nathan Yocum (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590593227 | ISBN-13: 978-1590593226 | Publication Date: August 4, 2004 | Edition: 1

Apress' The Definitive Guide to Linux Network Programming is a clear, concise treatment of creating clients and servers under the Linux operating system. The book assumes that the reader knows C and has experience developing code on Linux, but provides everything else a programmer needs for real-world network programming, including design, implementation, debugging, and security. Readers will learn about the many kinds of socket types, sessioned vs. sessionless protocols, how to build a custom protocol, encryption, how to use SSL, and how to tunnel data.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nathan Yocom has worn many hats in the IT industry over the years. He currently works as a software engineer for Bynari, Inc., specializing in messaging and groupware software. With a bachelor's degree in computer science from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, Nathan is also the cofounder of XPA Systems (http://www.xpasystems.com) and author of pGina, an open source program that simplifies the Windows logon process by providing for the authentication of a user via many different methods. In his spare time, in addition to playing the guitar and an occasional round of golf, Nathan enjoys spending time with his wife, Katie.

John Turner is an application developer and systems administrator in Detroit, Michigan, supporting the advertising and marketing campaigns of Fortune 50 clients. With over two decades of computer experience, John has designed and administered high-availability and fault-tolerant systems for the automotive, health care, and advertising industries. He coauthored the Apache Tomcat Security Handbook and is an Apache Group committer. He holds a bachelor's degree in information systems. John's industry interests include vintage hardware, open source, mobile computing, and wireless networking. His outside interests include farming, DIY projects, dogs, history, recycling, tattoos, travel, and music composition.

Keir Davis was first exposed to programming at the age of 12, when his father brought home a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A. Keir has been programming ever since and now holds a master's degree in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Today, Keir is the owner of Xtern Software (http://www.xternsoftware.com), a provider of custom software development services to manufacturers around the world. Keir and his wife, Jennifer, live with their two dogs, Tess and Maggie, in North Carolina. When not sitting in front of a computer, Keir enjoys playing racquetball.

Product Details

• Paperback: 375 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (August 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590593227
• ISBN-13: 978-1590593226
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,089,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short, yet, Excellent., February 25, 2005

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Shadi T. Khasawneh - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Definitive Guide to Linux Network Programming (Expert's Voice) (Paperback)

A very insteresting book. I would like to see a more advanced version of this book in the future. It covers the basics of TCP & UDP, and helps you in choosing a suitable design/protocol for your applications, and covers everything related to network programming including security, debugging... Excellent work!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fine grained control, October 7, 2004

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Definitive Guide to Linux Network Programming (Expert's Voice) (Paperback)

I'm not sure about the "definitive" claim in the book's title. But after reading the book, I'm quite willing to grant that the authors have indeed done a thorough job. The book calls to mind the now classic series on Internetworking, by Comer and Stevens in the early 90s. If you've been in this game long enough, you know exactly what I mean. Of course, Comer and Stevens were looking at unix boxes hooked to the Internet.

But, as you can see in this book, linux network programming carries over very closely to those unix versions. And both use what is basically the same IPv4, despite the massive physical buildout of the Internet.

The book's code is unabashedly C. No cute user interface to trip over. It can test your knowledge of C quite well. Partly because the coding and handling of network calls is deliberately low level. Using the book's approach, you can get a fine grained appreciation of how to talk across the Internet. Higher level languages like Java and C# come with network libraries that deliberately hide a lot of this detail. Which is good for many applications. But sometimes you might need the performance and control that this book offers.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars skimpy skimpy skimpy, July 19, 2008

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George Jempty "Insert pithy tagline here" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Definitive Guide to Linux Network Programming (Expert's Voice) (Paperback)

Skimpy coverage, the code compiles with a bazillion warnings, and for me at least the first client/server examples just plain don't work and don't provide useful enough error messages to figure out. It's not until you get to a much later chapter that you learn about debugging techniques that *might* help. This debugging information should either have been moved forward within the book, or should have been forward-referenced from the first example. Additionally the book repeats the same information over and over again, for instance in any example that calls for the use of the INADDR_ANY constant, the author explains what it stands for each and every time. This sort of repetition is simply not acceptable in a book fancying itself as somehow "definitive" yet only 300 or so pages. Furthermore, rather than covering ins and outs of actual network programming, far too much is devoted to the basics of various protocols (the first 20+% of the book), and/or security specifically (the last 20+% of the book). A better title for this book would be Linux Network Programming *Fundamentals*, and as such this would warrant 4 stars, maybe even 5 if it taught debugging earlier. As a *Definitive Guide* though it is a 2 at best; if you want truly definitive, albeit regarding Unix generally and not necessarily Linux, Stevens' "Unix Network Programming" series is the real deal.