UNIX for the Impatient (2nd Edition) [Paperback]

Paul W. Abrahams (Author), Bruce R. Larson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0201823764 | ISBN-13: 978-0201823769 | Edition: 2

Thoroughly updated to account for recent developments, the second edition of this bestselling book is an in-depth, comprehensive guide to UNIX-a handbook you can use both for learning and as a ready reference. The book is written for the technically oriented UNIX user who doesn't want to wade through verbose tutorials, but isn't already an expert. Its functional organization makes it easy to find the right tool for any task, with a complete alphapbetical summary providing fast lookup of commands, options, and subcommands. The Second Edition is based on the IEEE POSX.2 Standard now widely adopted by UNIX vendors and implementors. Topics include user utilities, shells the vi editior and other standard editors, the GNU Emacs editor, Internet access tools, the awk language and the X Windows System. New topics in the second edition include the KornShell, internationalization, the World Wide Web, newsreaders, and systems administrators from the user's perspective. Background material now includes poplular new systems such as Linux and FreeBSD.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

"IF YOU HAVE EVER STRUGGLED to use and understand UNIX through system manuals or by bothering anyone who knows more than you do, you will appreciate this book. If you seem to always be battling UNIX and suspect that it can actually perform for you if you only knew what was available, you will love this book. If you are thinking about using UNIX, you must have this book. Even for those who know a lot about UNIX, the book may serve as a concise reference."
--IEEE Software, on the first edition of this best-selling work

Thoroughly updated to account for recent developments, the Second Edition of UNIX for the Impatient is is an in-depth, comprehensive guide to UNIX -- a handbook you can use both for learning and as a ready reference. Clear, concise, and readable, the book is written for the technically oriented UNIX user who doesn't want to wade through verbose tutorials but isn't already an expert. Its functional organization makes it easy to find the right tool for any task, with a complete alphabetical summary providing fast lookup of commands, options, and subcommands. An extensive discussion of underlying UNIX concepts, supplemented by a glossary, enables even a UNIX beginner to penetrate the mysteries of UNIX terminology.

The Second Edition is based on the IEEE POSIX.2 Standard now widely adopted by UNIX vendors and implementors. Descriptions of commands and facilities have been extensively revised to conform to the POSIX specifications and extended to cover the entire set of POSIX.2 user utilities. As before, important System V, BSD, and GNU variations and enhancements are also presented.

Topics include user utilities, shells, the vi editor and other standard editors, the GNU Emacs editor, Internet access tools, the awk language, and the X Window System. New topics in the Second Edition include the Korn Shell, internationalization, the World Wide Web, newsreaders, and system administration from the user's perspective. The Emacs coverage has been updated to Emacs Version 19 and now covers the use of Emacs under X. Background material now includes popular new systems such as Linux and FreeBSD.

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About the Author

Paul W. Abrahams, Sc.D., CCP, is the author of TeX for the Impatient, a book whose success inspired UNIX for the Impatient. A consulting computer scientist and past president of the Association for Computing Machinery, he specializes in programming languages, design and implementation of software systems, and technical writing. He received his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956 and his doctorate in mathematics there in 1963, studying artificial intelligence under Marvin Minsky and John McCarthy and writing his dissertation on "Machine Verification of Mathematical Proof". He is one of the designers of the first LISP system and also the designer of the CIMS PL/I system, which he developed while a professor at New York University. He also participated in the design of the Software Engineering Design Language (SEDL), developed at the IBM T.J. Watson Laboratories. Currently he is working on the design of SPLASH, a Systems Programming LAnguage for Software Hackers and on a new book, OS/2 for the Impatient. In 1995 he was honored as a Fellow of the ACM. Paul resides in Deerfield, Massachusetts, where he writes, hacks, hikes, hunts wild mushrooms, and listens to classical music. His Internet address is [e-mail].

Bruce R. Larson is the founder of Integral Resources, a systems integration and UNIX consulting firm, a co-founder of BRInet (1995), which provides Internet connection and consulting services, and a partner in Internet Exchange Limited (1994), which provides dialup and ISDN connectivity in the Boston area. His specialties are shell tools, systems programming, IP and X.25 networks, performance monitoring, software integration, mail systems, and security. He has worked with Solaris, AIX, HPUX, IRIX, SCO UNIX, and other Intel-based UNIX systems. His experience includes configuring and administering Internet domains and connecting UNIX systems to X.25 networks, as well as designing and implementing custom installation scripts, kernel-level data extraction tools, shell tools, a software message switch, and IP-based utilities. From 1979 to 1981, he did software modeling for the Federal Aviation Authority under a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation; in 1988 he received his bachelor's degree in pure mathematics from the University of Massachusetts at Boston. A member of UniForum, the IEEE Computer Society, and the American Mathematical Society, Bruce resides in Milton, Massachusetts. His Internet address is [e-mail]

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Product Details

• Paperback: 864 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 2 edition (September 17, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201823764
• ISBN-13: 978-0201823769
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #600,144 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ideal quick reference for an experienced IT professional, December 29, 1999

By 

Mike Christie (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: UNIX for the Impatient (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

If you just need to get something done--using Emacs to write some C++, or zipping up some files on a Unix box and ftp'ing them somewhere else--then this is the book you need. The authors assume that you know what a file, or a directory, or a compiler is. The target audience is someone for whom Unix is the third or fourth (or more) operating system they've had to work with.

The book is indexed by function, not just by command. For example, suppose you want to compress a bunch of files. Looking up compress takes you to p.140; reading the possibilities you soon discover that gzip and tar are probably the programs you want to use. You can check out tar and discover the alternatives, cpio and pax, and find out which might be most portable in your situation.

I use this book for several projects at a client site where I had to write Perl and Tcl/Tk apps. I found it invaluable for everything from help with Emacs to locating utilities.

I should also add that the book is written very much in the style of a reference manual, *NOT* of a tutorial or guide. You should be comfortable with digging in reference books before you buy this, or you might find it a frustrating book to work with. I think most programmers pick up this skill very quickly, so I think this will exclude mostly beginners.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for the not-quite-beginner, November 4, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: UNIX for the Impatient (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This is a great book, but it's not for the Unix novice. For them, there's Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours. After you get through that, buy this book. I'm a 20-year mainframe veteran who last saw Unix in college, before it had nice things like shell scripts. This book was overwhelming when I first returned to the Unix world; however, after a little experience, this book is an easy and incredibly informative read.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best UNIX books I've seen, October 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: UNIX for the Impatient (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

This book is a wonderful resource for someone comfortable with computers but new to UNIX. It covers a lot of introductory topics with minimum wasted space. The authors don't go into any single subject too deeply, so it's not overwhelming to someone who just needs to get around on a UNIX system, but it's nonetheless very information-rich, and by the end of the book they cover some surprisingly complex topics.

I highly recommend this book to anyone starting off in UNIX, be it user or sysadmin.