Customer Reviews

Programming With GNU Software

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

 

 

There is some very good material contained in this text. The problem is there is also a fair amount of "We're GNU, we're great, here are the other books which will explain how to use this tool."

Practical C++ Programming, another O'Reilly text has 500+ pages and lists for $32.95. It is a great example of solid writing and is a great bang for the bucks. Programming with GNU Software has less than 250 pages and lists for $39.95. The writing style is weak and the flow is not as strong. Programming with GNU could easily drop 75 pages worth of self warm fuzzies, work a bit more on the flow of instruction, and include a little more info.

Note: The three stars are for the content which was worth reading. This book is good for those who have little to no exposure to GNU environment. If you have some familiarity then get texts which address the specific tools.

The book collects the information usually scattered in different places.It covers the following tools: gcc, emacs, gdb, make, rcs, gprof. The explanation is pretty clear, necessary examples are given.

What I don't like in this book: too many words about benefits of free software, probably more technical topics and details would be more useful. E.g. the chapter about 'make' even doesn't mention pattern rules. I'd like also to see a section devoted to CVS. The level of details is good for an introductory course but is not sufficient for a reference book.

RESUME: if you are new to GNU tools and going to use them on a regular basis this book will help you, otherwise skip it.

What I love about this book is that it covers subjects that you run into all the time in unix but none of my other books say much about. For example the link editor, libraries, c command line options. In particular I like the sections on gdb and gprof. Super useful. The intro has a section on unix and setting up your environmental variables, another neglected topic. The only section that didn't interest me is the section on emacs since I am a vi guy. But, it doesn't hurt to have it either... In sum, if you are a true UNIX guru, you may already know all this stuff, but, if you are an aspiring guru, like myself, this is pure gold.

When I first started programming, I used a Windows based PC. When I was told I was to develop on a Unix platform, I felt very intimidated. Windows based computers tend to use integrated development environments, while Unix based computers tend to use a synergenic collection of text based tools. I had a good understanding of how to write C/C++ code, but no understanding of the Unix tools. This book greatly helped me understand the advantages of the Unix programming envronment. Each of the essential Unix programming utilities was discribed in enough detail that I felt comfortable using them. Other O'Reilly books cover the utilities in great depth, while this book gets you started using the tools productively.

Hugh T. Nelson

This book collects all the little tidbits of info concerning compiling, writing make files, debugging and more into a hand reference book. It is good for people who know C/C++, but don't know the Un*x toolset.

I would hardly have expected this book to be the most borrowed one in my collection at the office, but it is. It has a little of everything: EMACS commands, gcc, make, and source control. It's not exhaustive, but that's exactly the point. When you just want to refresh your understanding of how to write a make file, and don't feel like wading though reams of man and info documentation, this book comes in very handy. And it's portable...

I really liked the concept of this book. To be proficient as a C programmer, you have to know your way around a lot more than just the C programming language. You have to know your editor, your compiler, your debugger, your libraries, your build environment, your source control environment, and your profiler. If you're programming on Windows, all of this is contained in your IDE, but in Unix, all of these tools are separate. To that end, this book covers emacs, gcc, libc, gdb, make, rcs and gprof. There are entire books about each subject but (with the exception of emacs) I always felt that a whole book on any of these topics was overkill. So collecting them together in one book is a great idea.

The problem is that this book is just over 200 pages long. That's not nearly enough space to do justice to this many tools, especially since "programming with GNU software" wastes 10% of its space advertising for a (now defunct) software support company. This book should have been twice as long - the final three chapters on make, rcs and gprof encompass just 16, 13 and 11 pages, respectively.

Still, I must admit that I did learn at least one new thing from each chapter - the authors do seem to know their material well. Also, although the book is pretty old at this point, it's still relevant (almost all of the examples worked as advertised even as I write this in 2009), and I'm not aware of any printed work that brings together so many important topics. I can't say avoid it, since it beats the online documentation (at least in presentation, if not in depth), but be prepared for a bit of a let-down if you decide to pick this one up.

This is the definitive manual for those seeking an informative education on UNIX C programming; implementing GNU Software Utilities. The author's are highly qualified in this field and bring a comprehensive technique in clearly worded examples. You'll learn volume's on the subject and a very detailed history of UNIX, GNU Shareware and the objective behind computer operating systems as they evolve. This is a key element in the concept of software developement tools and how they relate to the application user, system administrator and programming enviroment. This book will be a wise purchase and qualifies as a classroom requirement for intermediate to advanced learning yet stands as a learnable text for those who want to gain ground as novices and have a constant companion to refer to. The CD included is all the more remarkable and makes this publication a complete system.

What are the typical things that a programmer do in their job? Open a text editor to write codes, compile and debug. That's it. I was used to writing code in IDE running on Windows, everything seem to be work seamlessly and easily. One click, the program compiles. Another click, it run. Click again, it adds breakpoint etc. However, most GNU software run in Unix/Linux, which is complete different story. Argh, there wasn't icon that I could click and open up the text editor. I gotta write command line to compile each files, then link them to build the entire project. This is the purposes of this book - telling you how to write code in EMACS, to build code using command line and makefile, debug with gdb and source management using RCS. It doesn't tell you how to install and administrate Unix/Linux. If you are absolute beginner in Unix/Linux, this book will save you lots of time wondering how to build your Hello World program.

This book offers the >HIGHLIGHTS< of the GNU programming tools. E.g. Makefiles are covered by this book, but you wouldn't find all details of make in this book.

So, this is a really nice book, to get you started with the GNU Toolchain, but don't expect to see all ins and outs in this book of every topics.

It's a nice started book, but you also need to buy a specialized book of the topics you want to pay special attention.