Customer Reviews

Linux Programming by Example (By Example)

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

 

 

The book consists of 5 parts, appendices (the 6th part) and covers the following topics:

1. Introduction to Linux environment and basic development tools (gcc and make).

2. System programming (processes, signals, system calls, file handling and daemons).

3. Some Linux APIs (Berkeley database, ncurses, sound API) and creating your own libraries.

4. Interprocess communication (pipes, shared memory, semaphores and sockets).

5. Programming utilities (RCS, gdb, RPM and other packaging).

Everything is done using C. All explanations are clear and concise, and are illustrated by the sample project. Appendices contain lots of useful Internet links by categories.

The book looks very good but in my opinion it could be even better if the author used C++ instead of C. Writing UI with ncurses is a bit obsolete, but the author has promised to write about Xwindow and OpenGL in his next book. We'll see.

SUMMARY: in my opinion if you have at least a moderate Unix/Linux experience you won't learn too much from this book. But if you know a little about Unix/Linux programming (and have a working knowledge of C) you will probably love it.

While "Linux Programming by Example" is very educational for someone who is new to Linux Programming, the book is marred by endless typographical and programming errors. I have gone through the first 9 chapters and my error count is easily over 10 by now.

Que gets bad marks for not providing *any* errata for this book. While someone who is at least mildly proficient in C should be able to fix the bugs, providing an errata would show dedication to quality. The code can be downloaded from Que's site easily. The code all compiles correctly and comes with Makefiles omitted from the book.

All in all, this is a great book for learning programming. The book goes into enough depth in several subject areas to give the reader a taste of what can be done in linux. The book is definitely intended to be one that you read cover to cover.

The book is very much in the style of Stephen Williams' Advanced Programming in the UNIX environment. Similar concepts and explanations, but held tightly in the Linux realm and style. Deviations and additions of LINUX to the POSIX standards are shown, and the book is full of examples that more often than not illustrate the point at hand with out other excess baggage.

Although not finished yet, it has been very good so far.

Kurt Wall's book truly rocks. Having spent serious time with Advanced Programming in the Unix environment, I can say that this book is far more accessible and useful. The book is structured in a very cluefull way by someone who really knows his way around the O/S. Further, it is very readable, with not-to-small,not-to-big chapters that cover material well, but don't leave you dragging through pages of extra material.

I want to emphasize this: this is a Quality Book, not like those hulking 900 pagers with big type...

The material is extremely well covered! Coupled with a good book on system administration, this book would make a wonderful Advanced Introduction to the Unix/Linux Operating System course.

The examples are well thought out, the code instructive... This thing is just wonderful!

- Jay

"I bought the book and started to read: Page 3 says: "To see the code for this book, go to ...and type ..." Apparently, the link is broken."
I think this book is "discontinued." The author Kurt Wall wrote another book with Mark Watson: "Linux Programming Unleashed". I guess you may download some similar code at this new book's site: http://www.quepublishing.com/title/0672320215#

This book does not go into much detail, but provides a well rounded introduction to many Linux programming concepts.
Consider this book a nice transition from basic C to Linux programming, before hitting the advanced material.

For many mastering K&R marks the end of their investigation of C, this is a mistake. K&R is only a milestone and Linux Programming By Example shows you this.

While armed with the book you will be able to put together almost any program you heart may desire. Making it truely a book that takes the skilled programmer and shows you why you bothered to study so hard.

I bought the book and started to read: Page 3 says: "To see the code for this book, go to ...and type ..." Apparently, the link is broken.

And I turned to Page 0 and found author's e-mail... Well, the message was bounced back after seconds.

What can I say more?

Overall, this book is a good book. It is a good start for the beginner. The examples are good and provide simple explanations of how to use Linux features.

There are some topics that could have benefitted from a more in depth discussion. If you are looking for a basic overview of Linux programming features, this book is a good start.

The general idea of this book is: "Here's a few examples, now go read the man pages". Which I don't have a problem with.

However, this is NOT a book for beginning C programmers. It mainly focuses on system calls, signals, processes, and the like. I think it should be used as a POSIX geared supplement to "Advanced Programming In the UNIX Environment".

By the way, pages 134-135 contains a typo. In the paragraph "The Access Bits", 1 is execute, 2 is write, and 4 is read. The author corrects this in a later paragraph.

All in all, I'd say it's a good book for users looking for more insight into UNIX and Linux development.