Mac OS X Unix 101 Byte-Sized Projects [Paperback]

Adrian Mayo (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321374118 | ISBN-13: 978-0321374110 | Publication Date: December 24, 2005

Unix is no longer someone else's OS. With Mac OS X built on top of it, Unix  is becoming a household name, and more and more Mac users are ready to take it on. This book is for them!

Based on a popular series of Unix tips, this book promises to deliver what most other Unix guides fail to: comprehensive tutorials and instruction on specific Unix subjects, commands, and projects, not just a handy reference guide. Arranged into 101 mini tutorials in 11 key technology areas, this book provides all the tricks, techniques, and training that you need to understand how the system works and start using it immediately.  You will quickly learn the basics to working with the Unix command line as well as work on specific tutorials/exercises, including: browsing and searching the directory file-system; viewing, searching, and processing file content; using text editors; shell scripting; cool commands; and more.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Adrian Mayo has been involved with technology and Unix for over 20 years. As Editor for OSXFAQ.com, he contributes content for Unix Tutorials, Unix Tips, and Mac OS X tips. He is a software engineer, specializing in the development of safety and mission critical systems, and a former Web developer for PHP and MySQL database back-ends.

Product Details

• Paperback: 632 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press (December 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321374118
• ISBN-13: 978-0321374110
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple > Mac OS X UNIX
  • #50 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple > Mac OS X

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A taste of 'geekdom', November 1, 2007

By 

Terry Sanders (NYC, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mac OS X Unix 101 Byte-Sized Projects (Paperback)

There's a not-so-fine line between knowing your instrument, which serves a specific purpose or purposes, & being a geek. This book walks the line. There's so much more we, as Mac-users, can gain from understanding UNIX, but, of course, there's a limit to how much time & effort can be invested into gaining this insight.

I look at it this way: the time, frustration & money I save just by being able to competently maintain, get around limitations of the OSX interface & repair my system is more than enough compensation. This is the easiest to follow & understand of many UNIX books I've read, or attempted to read. If you have a little patience, this book will bestow rewards.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to the Terminal: Among the best of available titles introducing UNIX to Mac users, February 23, 2009

By 

W. C. White "Googlyelmo" (Seattle<=Arizona<=Brooklyn) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mac OS X Unix 101 Byte-Sized Projects (Paperback)

Along with Matisse Enzer's Unix for Mac OS 10.4/Tiger, this is just about the best available title introducing Unix to the Mac user. There are lots of other great *Nix titles oriented variously at different levels of experience and user needs, but for the Mac Power User this is an excellent starting point. The book assumes both a level of confidence and good sense (RTFM!) that isn't always that common. You know who you are. The organization of this book into "projects" is one of its big strengths. It claims to proceed from simple to complex, from common to obscure, though I dont really see that.

*Each chapter presents a small topic (such as aliases and functions), and treats it in pretty great depth, with examples, exercises, and especially terrific cross references to other chapters/projects. This makes it easy to find the section matching what you want and need to do. On the other hand, topics are not all grouped intuitively right next to each other in series, though it is a remarkably easy to navigate book.

*You could read this book through, trying everything out as you went, but that would be tedious. Having the book on your desk for reference when needed, and also taking a crack at new subjects for fun and education's sake when you have a few free minutes, Mayo has put together a really terrific resource that I strongly recommend.

*Nearly exhaustive, what this book doesn't cover falls into the realm of the truly advanced and specialized, and what it misses in depth it fully admits to and refers the reader on to sources that can aid him. This book does not cover Leopard specifically (though it does cover the PPC/Intel differences, in areas such as nvram and sysctl, among others), but fear not.

*Although Leopard is a huge leap forward, most things Unix have not appreciably changed since Panther/10.3.x, and even if not revised again this title should continue to be a great tool going forward even into Snow Leopard (whenever that arrives. . .)


UPDATE 4/20/10:

I upgraded my Macs to Snow Leopard earlier this month when the 10.6.3 update came out, and have reviewed this book again, and have found that ALL commands and projects I tried (about 10% of the total) continue to work 100%, and exactly as noted in this book, input and output. Quite a statement since the book was written for Tiger/10.4.x (with the author having a developer's beta of Leopard 10.5) over three years ago. Recommended now MORE than ever, now that with the help of this title in part, I have graduated to full-blown Mac-Unix geek from almost rank beginner when I bought Mayo's book.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for helping with Unix, December 28, 2008

By 

Danny M. Uff (Allentown, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mac OS X Unix 101 Byte-Sized Projects (Paperback)

I've gotten this book a few months ago, and I am still using it for reference with the Unix side of Mac OS X.

This book is great for those "little projects" that someone may want to do on there lunch break or just to get to know the Unix side of Mac OS X.