Customer Reviews

Linux Programming Unleashed

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Probably I would give it 3 stars and a quarter, or even one third, but obviously less than 4 stars.

The authors tried to cover nearly all the topics in linux programming (excluding databases). The results are quite mixed. The most of explanation is done using C, though C++ is also touched a couple of times.

The book consists of 6 parts.

Part 1 is the linux programming toolkit. Not bad at all. Suprising things are that gdb is described in part 5, and electric fence in part 2, not here.

Part 2 - System programming, Part 3 - Interprocess communication and networking. These parts are central and most valuable in the book. Good. Though I like Linux Application Development by M.K.Johnson and E.W.Troan better.

Part 4 - Programming the user interface. Very shallow. You can learn that such and such techniques exist but may hardly understand how to use them.

Part 5 - Special programming techniques. A strange feeling. As if the authors decided to collect here the material which they did'nt know where else to place.

Part 6 - Finishing touches (about creating the software packages and documentation). Not bad at all, though a little shallow again.

As it was already said in the previous reviews there are regular references to the non-existing CD.

RESUME: it is an acceptable book, espesially if you just start programming linux, or migrate from another platform. You will get acquainted quickly with the most necessary things. So if you have bought it, try to enjoy it:).

If you don't have it yet I recommend better to buy already mentioned Linux Application Development for both application and system programmers, plus Programming with Qt by M.Dalheimer or Developing Linux Application by E.Harlow if you are interested in GUI development for KDE or GNOME respectively.

I can't praise this book enough . It's definatley the best programming related book that I've bought . The authors feature many topics like GUI construction , shell scripting , ncurses , memory management , security issues ... even touching on 3d graphics with Mesa . If you're interested in finding out what can be done with *NIX systems from the shell to windowing environments then you'd be well advised to check this out . My only criticisms are the authors have spread themselves a little thin over a lot of topics and there are references to the CD which doesn't accompany the book ( but is available online ) .In a nutshell the book delves into various programming ideas and construction of bare bones applications you can extend yourself , the learning curve is excellent and it's well paced.

I was looking for this kind of book for a long time. It really covers most of topics that you want to know. tips and notes are really helpful. If you want to begin development at Linux, in my opion, you should really take a look at this book.

I can see why someone might take one star away from this othewise five-star book (like I've done)because the source code is online instead on on a CD, but the one star reviews are ludicrous. The information here is great and you won't find it in one place anywhere else.

The source is on the Sams website and appears to be complete.

I can tell already that I will use this book frequently. Don't pass it up.

As I was going to my grand mother's home with a friend of mine, preparing myself to pass one week without having much to do (Yes, I am one of those geeks), my friend given me this book to overcome the tedium I was about to face. I've read most of this book continuously in 3 days, I've skipped all the parts of the book concerning X-windows development as I don't use it and I sure will not going to use it unless demanded. I found the book very interesting; the author has a very involving writing style. The book covers mostly C programming and has some chapter(s) on Java and shell scripting. There was sub-chapters which weren't needed and chapters which were needed and weren't there. For example, the book explains you how to use ioctl and set flags equal to those done by chattr(1), but it's only one example on the ioctl interface, I was actually interested in this set of ioctl but, it seemed to me needless to be covered as an example of ioctl()s. On the other hand, I found a lot of explanations lacking on the sockets part of the book. For example, I don't remember reading about the poll() interface, which is far better than select() system call explained in chapter. 11. There was also one chapter completely devoted on writing documentation and the general licenses which I found off-topic for a programming book, but nevertheless interesting to read. The introduction to the GNU tools are a must read, and I recommend this book for anyone starting a career or with just plain interest in programming for this operating system. I must say that when I've read the book, I knew a great part of what I was about to read and that I wasn't completely clueless to what I was reading. (Sorry for any incoherencies in my review, English ISN'T my native language).

Those familiar with Linux know how obtuse its documentation can be. Anyone who has tried to compile Linux software will appreciate the additional information about what is going that is provided in this excellent text. You are bound to be inspired to try some highly educational examples. For those who want to try programming, this is an indespensible aide.

Unfortunately, I found some errors that are hard to spot. You may be luckier.

Overall this book is great. It gets you started in all of the major areas of Linux development, something I'd missed in other programming books. It provides a central source of information for many of the most common programming utilities and libraries on the GNU/Linux platform. It answered *a ton* of questions. I just wish the topics described would've been explained in more detail or saved for a second / third book.

Nicely fills some holes left by Wrox's Beginning Linux Programming. Pretty broad coverage if necessarily shallow. Not just a compilation of howtos and faqs, but decent writing. BUT! Constant references to a CDROM that doesnt exist, and generally these are where a fragment of a sample program is being discussed and you want the whole listing, and there isnt one. There are 3 authors. One, Mark Whitis, maintains a site with the code for *his* chapters only. He says to see the sites of the other authors for the code to their chapters, but doesnt provide a link to their sites. His comments on publisher SAMS are so damning, you wonder why he published with them. This is an expensive book (arent all these halfwitted computer books?) for someone to buy only to face these omissions. Too bad too, because its coverage is otherwise what I wanted. BEWARE!

I completely agree with AK from Moscow regarding this book. Now I have only the 1st edition, but unless *major* changes were made, I would expect similar results.

If you are completely new to programming or completely new to programming in GNU/Linux, or if you are interested in writing somewhat trivial programs for only yourself, then this book may be of help. I would not recommend it for experienced programmers. As AK said, Linux Application Development by Johnson and Troan is significantly better. The WROX book is also better. Both of these books are much more well written than Linux Unleashed, by which I mean independent of the material. Stronger editing should have been applied here. It does cover a lot of topics, but so does my dictionary.

It is rather sad to see a good book like this one get beaten-up because of the "non existant" CD ROM that the author refers in the text. As mentioned in other reviews, the code can be DOWNLOADED!

The writing is lucid and easy for newbies to grasp. The author takes you from a "novice" level to an intermediate+ level with good coverage of topics like System programming and IPC.

I must admit though, I havent read the other books suggested by the other reviewers - so am not in a position to compare them. But this book suit me fine, and I didnt have to go to look elsewhere.

Definately a MUST BUY!