Advanced Programming in the UNIX(R) Environment (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series) [Hardcover]

W. Richard Stevens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 1992 | ISBN-10: 0201563177 | ISBN-13: 978-0201563177 | Edition: First Edition

Bestselling UNIX author W. Richard Stevens offers application developers and system programmers his professional, experience-based guidance on using the system call interface with C. In the first half of the book, Stevens describes more than 200 system calls and functions with a brief example program following each description. Having provided the basics, Stevens moves on to chapter-long examples. The book is applicable to all major UNIX releases, especially System V Release 4-including Solaris 2-and 4.4 BSD, including 386 BSD.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

If you are an experienced C programmer with a working knowledge of UNIX, you cannot afford to be without this up-to-date tutorial on the system call interface and the most important functions found in the ANSI C library. Rich Stevens describes more than 200 system calls and functions; since he believes the best way to learn code is to read code, a brief example accompanies each description.

Building upon information presented in the first 15 chapters, the author offers chapter-long examples teaching you how to create a database library, a PostScript printer driver, a modem dialer, and a program that runs other programs under a pseudo terminal. To make your analysis and understanding of this code even easier, and to allow you to modify it, all of the code in the book is available via UUNET.

A 20-page appendix provides detailed function prototypes for all the UNIX, POSIX, and ANSI C functions that are described in the book, and lists the page on which each prototype function is described in detail. Additional tables throughout the text and a thorough index make Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment an invaluable reference tool that all UNIX programmers - beginners to experts - will want on their bookshelves.

Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment is applicable to all major UNIX releases, especially System V Release 4 and the latest release of 4.3BSD, including 386BSD. These real-world implementations allow you to more clearly understand the status of the current and future standards, including IEEE POSIX and XPG3.

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About the Author

We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of noted author W. Richard Stevens. His passing is obviously a tremendous loss for the technical community, but it is a personal one for us as well. Rich was both a gifted colleague and a valued friend who will be greatly missed. We extend our sympathies to his family.

Obituary from the Arizona Daily Star:

STEVENS, W. Richard, noted author of computer books died on September 1. He is best known for his "UNIX Network Programming" series (1990, 1998, 1999), "Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment" (1992), and "TCP/IP Illustrated" series (1994, 1995, 1996). Richard was born in 1951 in Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), where his father worked for the copper industry. The family moved to Salt Lake City, Hurley, New Mexico, Washington, DC and Phalaborwa, South Africa. Richard attended Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia. He received a B.SC. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1973, and an M.S. (1978) and Ph.D. (1982) in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona. He moved to Tucson in 1975 and from then until 1982 he was employed at Kitt Peak National Observatory as a computer programmer. From 1982 until 1990 he was Vice President of Computing Services at Health Systems International in New Haven, CT, moving back to Tucson in 1990. Here he pursued his career as an author and consultant. He was also an avid pilot and a part-time flight instructor during the 1970's.

He is survived by his loving wife of 20 years, Sally Hodges Stevens; three wonderful children, Bill, Ellen and David; sister, Claire Stevens of Las Vegas, NV; brother, Bob and wife Linda Stevens of Dallas, TX; nieces, Laura, Sarah, Collette, Christy; and nephew, Brad. He is predeceased by his parents, Royale J. Stevens (1915-1984); and Helen Patterson Stevens (1916-1997). Helen lived in Tucson from 1991-1997, and Royale lived here in the early 1930's attending Tucson High School while his father was treated for TB at the Desert Sanitorium (now TMC). The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Richard's name to Habitat for Humanity, 2950 E. 22nd Street, Tucson, AZ 85713. A memorial service for Richard will be held at St. Phillip's in the Hills Episcopal Church on Tuesday, September 7th at 12:00 noon. Following the service there will be a reception in the Murphy Gallery of the Church. Please wear colorful clothing to the service; Richard loved colors.

W. Richard Stevens was an acknowledged UNIX and networking expert and the highly-respected author of several books. He was also a sought-after instructor and consultant.

0201563177AB04062001

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 768 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; First Edition edition (June 30, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201563177
• ISBN-13: 978-0201563177
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.8 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #339,136 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > APIs & Operating Environments > Unix

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

142 of 148 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A rarity - a great computer book. April 24, 2001

By Bowen Simmons

Format:Hardcover

The computer industry is notable for the huge quantity of really bad books it engenders. This, however, is not one of those books - this is a great book. Before explaining why it is great, I'd like to get the table of contents out of the way, so that you will know what it covers:

Preface

1. Introduction (a "whirlwind tour of Unix")

2. Unix Standardization and Implementations

3. File I/O

4. Files and Directories

5. Standard I/O Library

6. System Data Files and Information

7. The Environment of a Unix Process

8. Process Control

9. Process Relationships

10. Signals

11. Terminal I/O

12. Advanced I/O

13. Daemon Processes

14. Interprocess Communication

15. Advanced Interprocess Communication

16. A Database Library

17. Communicating with a PostScript Printer

18. A Modem Dialer

19. Pseudo Terminals

Appendices

A. Function Prototypes

B. Miscellaneous Source Code (all source code is available for download)

C. Solutions to Selected Exercises

Bibliography

Index

The first thing to understand about the book is that while it can be used as just a reference work (the index is wonderful), it really is a book you can and should read. Even if you think you know a lot of this stuff, you can be surprised at what you can still learn.

What makes the book so much more useful than just a collection of man-page print-outs (that dreary and painfully common form of UNIX "book") is the method of presentation. Stevens' basic atom of organization is the function call. For each call (or minor variations on a single call), he provides the C prototype, and then, in text, explains what the function does, what it's arguments are for, and then typically provides a small C program that demonstrates it in action, which he then explains. These function-level building blocks are arranged into related sets, each of which is a chapter in the book. Each chapter has a wrapper that consists of an introduction explaining some basic concepts and history of the functions described in that chapter, and some review exercises at the end. The chapters themselves are arranged so that the earlier chapters describe the basic functions, and the later chapters describe the more difficult functions. Every chapter both teaches the reader something of immediate use in writing code (even the introduction has sample programs), as well as preparing him for the more difficult subjects that lie ahead.

Now for the caveats. Stevens absolutely assumes that you know how to program in C and that you know how to use Unix development tools (or at least that you have some other source from which to learn them). This is not the book to learn how to use C or particular shells, editors, compilers, linkers, or debuggers. Similarly, new Unix variants, such as Linux and MacOS X, receive no specific mention here at all (though the book is invaluable for both). Also, there is no discussion of the various GUI interfaces offered on many current Unix systems - for those, some other book will necessary.

One other thing worth mentioning is the cost of the book. Don't be put off by it - Stevens' book has been justifying that cost for a lot of readers for a lot of years.

In closing, I've been a developer for many years and have owned many computer books. I recommend very few of them, but can't recommend this one highly enough. It is one of the few books I've had that routinely lies open beside me when I work. In addition to my personal recommendation, you might look not only at all the positive reviews for this book, but also at the reviews for "competitive" books and notice how often they refer you back to this one. This book is the standard by which other UNIX programming books are measured, and so far, it has not been surpassed.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply the best, too bad no place for 6th star. August 11, 2000

By Surya Halim

Format:Hardcover

This is simply the best book that teaches you about Unix system level programming. Almost all system calls are explained in great details along with very comprehensible examples. The author made a claim that this book is not a mere repetition of Unix Programmer's Manual as the manual lacks logic and examples which this book provides. I think he really lived up to that claim.

Many difficult topics are made so easy to grasp, sometimes I think this book should be retitled "Advanced Unix Programming Made Easy". The explanation are smooth with pointers to previously discussed concepts just in case you're lost. Each chapter comes with a number of exercises to try your understanding of the chapter, and most of the answers are available in the appendix of the book so this book is also great for self-learners. Before reading this book, I have read "Advanced Unix Programming" by Marc J. Rochkind, and I was confused by many things the guy said in the book plus the code is pretty outdated already and this book just filled in the gaps I had.

The explanation is not geared towards any flavor of Unix, but pretty much all the mainstream Unix flavors such as BSD, SVR4, etc. So that gives a pretty wide horizon of view into Unix in general. I'm personally very impressed with his explanations on signal concept and concurrency controls.

This book will provide a solid background for anyone wishing to become Unix/Linux kernel hacker. An investment worth every penny. Beware though, you must have a solid C programming background if you want to reap the maximum benefit out of this book. I found out that it's also a good idea to have K&R "C Programming Language" book around just in case you got confused with pointers, arrays and friends. This guy knows exactly what he is talking about and he expects you to know enough to understand him.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing better than this book. March 20, 2000

By Berk Demir

Format:Hardcover

The only complete reference for programmers working in the UNIX enviroment. Not just a reference book but a very well guide to learn fundamentals of UNIX programming. Everything you want to know about UNIX programming. Signal handling, file system, I/O and lots of other chapters about advanced programming with UNIX. If you're looking a book to develop "real" advanced apps. or to join the development of Linux kernel and other open system projects, this is the FIRST book you must buy...

It's sad to say this but the author of this book; the big guru, Richard Stevens is nomore with us. rest it peace guru...