Customer Reviews

Linux® Programming Bible

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm only interested in the part on systems programming, so I didn't read chapters on Shell, Perl or GUI. This author may have solid teaching experience. Take the discussion on mmap() as an example. On p437, it clears says that MAP_SHARED is for changes to the mapped area in memory to be reflected by change to the file. Compare this with the authoritative SVR4 systems programming book by David Curry, who says "when changes are made to the mapped object, these changes are shared among other processes that also have the object mapped". If this is the first time you use this function, the latter description will sure sound more cryptic.

A number of IDG Bible books err on the side of being too verbose (e.g. UNIX System Admin Bible). I think this book is right to the point. I enjoyed reading the chapters on building libraries, IPC programming, and Linux I/O. The interpretation of source code is accurate and adequate.

Is this book out of print? I hope not, because it's a great book. I am an experienced programmer, and it fills in some details about things I knew fairly well, and it helps me learn things I don't know much about.

If I wanted to dig deeper, I could always get a separate book for each topic, but I find that each chapter in this book goes beyond just an introduction. The book is thorough, and I find that I learn a bit more than I need to know to get started on each topic, which is just the right amount.

This book is worth it even for just the chapter on "GNU make" alone. Most brief mentions of "GNU make" in Linux books don't tell you enough. And I don't need to buy a whole book on the subject. The information provided here is more than enough for me to use "make" for my projects.

The writing is excellent. I get the impression that it's actually written by an author, and not by a publisher. In other words, despite the generic-sounding title, it's a book that someone put some real effort into. The fact that there are very few errata reported supports my theory.

The information in this book is by no means out of date. So why not keep publishing such a great tutorial/reference manual? Hey, buy it used. It's cheaper anyway.

Happy programming!

Covers many topics, anyone who works and codes on a linux/unix environment will find something useful here --

The shell, bash, regular expressions. Emacs.
C -- gcc (compiler), gdb (debugger), gnu make for managing projects,
memory management, libraries & linking.
Files, processes, signals, terminals.
Semaphores, sockets, inter-process communication,
Perl (3 chapters!!) -- the language, data-munging, cgi programming, database work.
Graphical interfaces.
Collaboration via CVS, security, optimization.

Most topics are at an introductory-to-intermediate level. The topics covered in the different chapters, each deserves a separate book by itself, and the serious programmer will need more complete references for the particular tools s/he is using intensively.

And of course, practically all the material here can be learned from free tutorials and articles on the internet, if you know how and where to look.

The descriptions are adequate but not particularly remarkable, often more bloated than they need to be. The example code snippets are adequate but not inspiring, rather on the insipid side.

However, the book is useful as a compendium of things one needs to know and look up. An intermediate linux/unix user might find it useful to take the time to go through the whole book from
beginning to end, to get exposed to concepts s/he hasn't mastered yet. In addition, it might serve as a general-purpose reference worth keeping handy on your desk.

Positive comments (again :-) --

#. Useful collection of things one needs to know and often look up.

#. Adequate introductory discussions to a large number of topics. Code snippets to illustrate concepts.

Negative/neutral comments --

#. Too verbose. Book size could have been cut to two-thirds.

#. Too bulky to be carried around, see previous comment.

#. Extensive coverage of perl, with little mention of python, ruby, scheme, or other scripting language of similar functionality. Especially important as python gains in popularity every day. Linux really is not about perl.

#. Coverage of emacs, none of vi.

#. Maybe it's good to focus on one tool among several equivalent ones, but then there should be some discussion of alternative tools, maybe in a separate chapter for alternative tools/languages/editors.

#. In the same vein, a chapter discussing in short the various programming and scripting languages out there, their pros & cons & reputations, would be very nice. Linux and open source are, after all, about choice!

#. The example code illustrate basic ideas; they're not examples of real-life problem solving.

John Goerzen took on a very difficult task in writing this book. The Linux programming environment is extremely complex and each aspect of the environment can't be covered adequately in a single book. This book proves that. Goerzen has taken all of the majorly important topics in the Linux programming model and compressed them into 800 pages. Unfortunately, in doing so, none of the topics are covered in a manner that doesn't leave you with a million questions waiting to be answered. Most of the chapters really should have been an introductory chapter into another book that covers the material more in detail. Most the matter is rushed through. A lot of details are glossed over. And even the editing was done poorly as there were enough typographical errors that made reading it feel like a chore. On the positive side, there weren't many technical errors and Goerzen does give you enough of a taste in most of the topics that should motivate you to actually go out and actually learn some of the technology in depth. All of the material he covers is very much relevant and important to programming in Linux. I would encourage people to buy this book, but by no means regard it as "The Bible" of Linux programming, It should be looked at more as a field guide that will show you where to get started conceptually and where you need to look for more of an explanation. Goerzen made a noble effort, but this material just couldn't be covered properly in 800 pages.

This book is a good survey of the programming capabilities of Linux. It doesn't delve into much detail on different development environments, however.

This book has been a real boon, especially for me who actually switched from windows to linux after buying the book. I had absolutely no idea how linux worked...not even where to begin. This book has helped me out tremendously. To those of you who suffer my predicament, I suggest starting with Chaper 1... then jumping to chapter 4...to get a grsp on what linux is all about. The programming part, need I say, is extensive. To those of you who are just starting out with programming in Linux, this is definitely the book for you

Purchased this book at Amazon with an alliance with Motor Books. The used book is in a very good condition. Was as the description said. Love the book and going to enjoy reading!.

I bought this because it was comprehensive and it was at a time when I was short on money and didn't want to buy a different book for each aspect of C/C++. I pretty much skimmed through the entire book on the first read, not understanding too much of it because I had just started programming in C++. After getting tired of using C++ and moving to C, I started using this book more and had a better understanding of it. Now it's always near me while I'm programming. I would have bought this book solely for the linked-list example only if I had known how much I'd be referring to it when I started learning linked-lists. Great book.

Well this is a great book no doubt, but since its called the "BIBLE" then one would expect it to have it all. Unfortunately this book has missed certain key aspects of Linux programming. To site an example, this book hardly covers anything about threads. I would recommend this book, but also suggest buying "Beginning Linux Programming" since I have both. Though the programming examples in this book are more in depth but still it has a little less explanation of key concepts.
Overally I would rate it 5 for what it covers, but 3 caz it doesn't cover it all.

Well this is a great book no doubt, but since its called the "BIBLE" then one would expect it to have it all. Unfortunately this book has missed certain key aspects of Linux programming. To site an example, this book hardly covers anything about threads. I would recommend this book, but also suggest buying "Beginning Linux Programming" since I have both. Though the programming examples in this book are more in depth but still it has a little less explanation of key concepts.
Overally I would rate it 5 for what it covers, but 3 caz it doesn't cover it all.