Programming with Curses (Nutshell Handbooks) [Paperback]

John Strang (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0937175021 | ISBN-13: 978-0937175026 | Publication Date: January 8, 1986 | Edition: 1

curses is a UNIX library of functions for controlling a terminal's display screen from a C program. It can be used to provide a screen driver for a program (such as a visual editor) or to improve a program's user interface.

This handbook will help you make use of the curses library in your C programs. We have presented ample material on curses and its implementation in UNIX so that you understand the whole, as well as its parts.

Note: This handbook covers Ken Arnold's original Berkeley implementation of curses, not the System V version.

Topics covered include:

• Windows, screens, and images.
• Multiple windows.
• The WINDOW structure.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Curses is a UNIX library of functions for controlling a terminal's display screen from a C program. It can be used to provide a screen driver for a program (such as a visual editor) or to improve a program's user interface. This handbook will help you make use of the curses library in your C programs. We have presented ample material on curses and its implementation in UNIX so that you understand the whole, as well as its parts. Note: This handbook covers Ken Arnold's original Berkeley implementation of curses, not the System V version. Topics covered include: Windows, screens, and images. Multiple windows. The WINDOW structure.

About the Author

John Strang now finds himself "a consumer--rather than a producer of Nutshells." He is currently a diagnostic radiologist (MD) at Stanford University. He is married to a pediatrician, Susie, and they have two children, Katie and Alex. John enjoys hiking, bicycling, and dabbling in other sciences. He plans to use his experience as an author at ORA to write his own book on radiology.

Product Details

• Paperback: 76 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (January 8, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0937175021
• ISBN-13: 978-0937175026
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,717,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money, July 8, 2005

By 

J. Bender (Syracuse, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Programming with Curses (Nutshell Handbooks) (Paperback)

This book was a waste. I purchase a 'programming' book to learn how to develop using a particular library, etc.
This is a pocket guide to curses with a 5 line piece of code every once in a while.

If it is new to you find something else.
I looked at a Wrox "Linux Programming" book and found MUCH more thorough explanations and covering the same material! I guess I'll use that instead.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK, but..., December 28, 2001

By 

William E Holland (Louisville, KY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Programming with Curses (Nutshell Handbooks) (Paperback)

OK on basic information, could use some more examples. My main goal was using color with SCO/Linux programs. Unfortunatly this book gives no hint that color is even possible, much less how to do it. This book must be 20 years old and doesn't appear to have been updated in all that time. HAY!!! There are color terminals now!!! And Curses supports them!!! Xterms can be in color too!!!
I found the doc files about "ncurses" that came with my "Slackware Linux" far more helpful than this book.
The book is probably OK for intro in a classroom setting to give students background, but I can't really recommend it. You can get more "useful" info from a "Yahoo" search or from linux "ncurses" documentation.
It can provide a quick reference for finding which curses function calls to use to do basic windowing and such.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good picture -- and all I could find, November 11, 2001

By 

David R. Dull (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Programming with Curses (Nutshell Handbooks) (Paperback)

This book is the only general resource I could find on curses programming. Since everyone wants to make forms on character interfaces, the best way to do it through the standard TTY drivers is with the curses library. The examples were enough to prove to me that it's not a plug-in method, but that one needs to adapt one's application to use the curses library from top to bottom. It will be better to write my program with curses in mind from the beginning than to try to retrofit a finished product.