Tom Swan's GNU C++ for Linux (Professional Dev. Guide) [Paperback]

Tom Swan (Author)

Book Description

Series: Author Teaches | Publication Date: December 6, 1999

Tom Swan's GNU C++ for Linux teaches C++ programmers how to program for the Linux operating system using the GNU C++ compiler. It deals with Linux-specific programming issues and covers topics such as Linux programming fundamentals, Kernel programming, device drivers, Tom Swan's "Developer Toolbox", X Windows development, class libraries, object-oriented programming, and references to reserved words, operator precedence, and Internet sites for more information.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Significantly, Windows-world author Tom Swan and publisher Que Corporation are turning their attention to Linux. The author's heavily branded new book Tom Swan's GNU C++ for Linux begins on his houseboat in the Caribbean where the prolific explicator of compilers discovers Linux and GNU C++ after failing to hook his evening meal. Swan's discovery comes late in the day, both literally and figuratively, but it is good news nonetheless. The late adopters are here--they even brought their favorite author--so let's welcome them by tolerating their egotistically self-titled tracts.

The story begins with the basics of a Linux installation. (Mandrake 6.1--a variant of Red Hat--is included on CD-ROM.) In the new day of Linux, everything works the first time, so Swan's 20-page précis gives cursory attention to error recovery, since that would spoil his Caribbean calm. True Linux newbies are advised to refer to any book by Matt Welsh for the whole story (in no less palatable form), but Swan's quibbling about Unix conventions honestly reflects the frustrations of newcomers.

Ironically, all of the hype for Swan, Que, Linux, and GNU seems misplaced next to the simple fact that C++ is an ANSI standard compiler. By any branding scheme, C++ should smell as sweet. In fact, GNU C++ does have its own accent, and Swan dedicates only one of his 800 pages to portability issues. The large middle ground of the book rests securely on Swan's methodical explanation of object-oriented code design and the details of C++.

Swan has written seven other books on C++ for the Windows environment, and GNU's accent isn't so different. He employs patient hand-holding methods, and the book's many notes, tips, and warnings reflect his depth and breadth of understanding. For skimming or studying, the middle passage is useful to newcomers and a welcome refresher for students who will value the detail and code examples.

In a mystifying denouement, Swan includes 150 pages on the X11 libraries, suggesting that Linux/C++ newbies should cut their teeth on 15-year-old graphical user interface (GUI) tools before their learning is done. He would have been wiser to end with links between C++ and object-oriented scripting languages such as perl5 and python, both of which have GUIs that are more accessible than X11. Evidently, we must wait for Tom Swan to discover GUI scripting languages--perhaps while on a llama trip in the Andes. He would do better to focus his energies on a GNU C++, for Windows is where his real expertise lies. --Peter Leopold

From the Back Cover

Tom Swan's GNU C++ for Linux teaches C++ programmers how to program for the Linux operating system using the GNU C++ compiler. It deals with Linux-specific programming issues and covers topics such as Linux programming fundamentals, Kernel programming, device drivers, Tom Swan's "Developer Toolbox", X Windows development, class libraries, object-oriented programming, and references to reserved words, operator precedence, and Internet sites for more information.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 848 pages
• Publisher: Que (December 6, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789721538
• ISBN-13: 978-0789721532
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,415,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent self-contained introduction to LINUX and C++, December 18, 1999

By 

booklover "booklover" (Arlington, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tom Swan's GNU C++ for Linux (Professional Dev. Guide) (Paperback)

This book comes with the LINUX operating system and a full program development environment on CD.

The book does not require any previous knowledge of C++ or LINUX or UNIX or the GNU tools. All commands are carefully explained. It even explains how to use a Zip drive with LINUX. It even explains how to work around certain bugs in gdb.

The book uses the step-by-step approach, with fully worked exercises in the text. All the code in the text comes on CD ROM. At each point in the learning process, the reader produces working code.

There are helpful notes and warnings that are highlighted to emphasize their importance.

It is both a tutorial and a reference, 800 pages of solid information. A full reference on every aspect of C++ on LINUX would take thousands of pages, and the book refers to the on-line LINUX documentation for topics (such as calloc) it does not cover in depth. The choice of the topics covered seems excellent. One will be quite competent in C++ if one works one's way to the end of the book.

The one thing I find questionable is the author's choice to teach Xlib and V rather than the more popular GTK. On the other hand, covering GTK requires its own book, and an introductory book has to draw the line somewhere at what it teaches.

I should also point out that there are lots of programming languages one can use on LINUX besides C++, for example, Perl, Java, Python, and Tcl/Tk. I don't mean this as a criticism of the book but if you want to start LINUX programming and you are new to programming one of these languages might be a better place to start since they are easier to learn than C++.

As an ad says in the back of the book, Welcome to the Revolution.

Que classifies the knowledge level as Intermediate . This is fair. While the book is self-contained, some knowlege of how to program and "computer maturity" will be very helpful.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for learning/understanding C++ under Linux., March 12, 2000

By 

Rob Wehrli (Melbourne) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Tom Swan's GNU C++ for Linux (Professional Dev. Guide) (Paperback)

Tom's book is a very good product especially well suited for those people coming to C++ from other worlds or just picking it up as a function of the popularity of Linux. The included source code compiles without problems and the easy introduction into GUI programming alone is worth the asking price. I tend to disagree slightly with some of Tom's purely OOP discussions, however, the basics are well covered and presented so that they are easy to follow and enjoy. Tom's use of the STL under Linux is a good example of how the book is useful right away for those already with some understanding of C++. Remember when unzipping under Linux to use the -L switch for LOWER CASEing the filenames, and you'll want to mv config.mk to Config.mk These kinds of "flaws" are probably potential troublespots for true beginners, however the book is really a fun and great addition for any developing Linux fan or anyone just discovering the wonders of C++. The book is incredibly easy to read and understand, which is more than half the problem with 99% of the remaining books on the subject. The depth of material is well presented in code, however, I think I can do without several directories of "empty.txt", which are used in the source file as place holders in chapter-named directories without source code. Overall, the Amazon discounted price makes the book an exceptionally good buy IMHO. If you're a full-on OOP purist, you'll probably not like this book as much as I did. I especially liked the Xlib and V GUI presentations, as both are quite easy to immediately implement and use from the generous examples provided in source code. I don't think you'll find a better "X-primer" out there. My personal congratulations to Tom for such a fine piece that is easily worth 5 stars when a tad bit more "conceptually pure OOP" is applied to the second edition ;)

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unforgivably lame, July 28, 2000

By 

Micah Cowan (Silicon Valley, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tom Swan's GNU C++ for Linux (Professional Dev. Guide) (Paperback)

While this book *was* helpful to me as a reference, I could never, ever recommend this book to anyone, least of all beginners. It is horribly inaccurate - he even claims that the NULL macro may be used as the 'null' termination character - and then complains that many compilers don't properly allow that without giving errors! (NULL is only for the use of null pointers). There are numerous cases where his lack of understanding in certain areas could lead beginning programmers down very bad coding paths, causing buggy or insecure code.

On the plus side, he covers linux-specific issues of programming C++ very well, especially the use of emacs and gdb. I have found it useful despite it's flaws, but would contend that it is only worth reading to someone already quite fluent in C, so s/he may avoid the pitfalls that this book just walks right through.