Understanding UNIX/LINUX Programming: A Guide to Theory and Practice [Paperback]

Bruce Molay (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0130083968 | ISBN-13: 978-0130083968 | Publication Date: December 5, 2002

This book explains in a clear and coherent manner how Unix works, how to understand existing Unix programs, and how to design and create new Unix programs. The book is organized by subsystem, each presented in visual terms and explained using vivid metaphors. It breaks the information into manageable parts that can be presented, explained, and mastered. By using case studies and an extremely reader-friendly manner to illustrate complex ideas and concepts, the book covers the basics of systems programming, users, files and manuals, how to read a directory, using 1S, writing PWD, studying STTY, writing a video game, studying SH, environment and shell variables, I/O redirection and pipes, servers and sockets, writing a web server, license servers, and concurrent functions. For Unix system administrators and programmers, network programmers, and others who have used other operating systems and need to learn Unix programming to expand their skill sets.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The material covered goes to the right depth to allow students to understand the UNIX operating system to program it. I wish a book of this calibre was available during my graduate studies as it would have helped me tremendously in learning to program the UNIX system." — Sam R. Thangiah, Slippery Rock University

"This text is one of the most accurate and articulate that I have read. It is easily readable." — Lawrence B. Wells, Dallas County Community College

From the Back Cover

Understanding Unix^®/Linux Programming explains how Unix and Linux work and shows how to write, programs at the system call level. Using nearly 100 complete programs and over 200 illustrations, the book demonstrates the basics as well as the advanced aspects of Unix systems programming.

Topics include:

• file I/0
• device I/0
• timers
• process management
• stream and datagram sockets
• POSIX threads
• file systems
• the terminal driver
• signals
• pipes
• network programming
• semaphores

The text presents theory in practical contexts with detailed explanations of common Unix programs such as who, Is, pwd, sh, and httpd. Each example starts with a description of what the program does and how people use it. From there, the text discusses the underlying principles and mechanisms, and then uses those ideas to write a version of the program.

The book is designed for learning. Chapter summaries, memorable analogies, experiments, explorations, and varied exercises help the reader understand and program Unix as an integrated, logical whole.

Material in the book applies to all versions of Unix and Linux. The book assumes the reader knows the C programming language and is familiar with a modern operating system. The book is suitable as a class text, for self-study, and for reference, and it provides thorough coverage of information essential to students, Unix programmers, and system administrators.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 530 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall (December 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130083968
• ISBN-13: 978-0130083968
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #76,559 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #33 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > APIs & Operating Environments
  • #42 in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Unix
  • #63 in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Linux

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, December 30, 2002

By 

Christos Karayiannis (3o TEE Karditsas, GREECE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding UNIX/LINUX Programming: A Guide to Theory and Practice (Paperback)

"Understanding Unix/Linux Programming" takes an interesting approach trying to show the principles of Unix programming, it analyses the shell commands using three steps:

I. use the command

II. find information about the command

III. create the command using C language and the standard library

Thus, it doesn't only teach Unix/Linux programming it presents a way of thinking and solving a problem using the available information someone can obtain from man pages.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent course through Unix and Linux with copious code and examples., October 28, 2005

By 

Craig Maloney (MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Understanding UNIX/LINUX Programming: A Guide to Theory and Practice (Paperback)

Unix has had the luxury of being one of the most documented operating systems in history. Many books have been dedicated to documenting the internals of Unix and Unix-like systems and some have risen to the ranks of classic texts regarded by all as necessary to understanding the inner workings of Unix. Understanding Unix®/Linux Programming would be in excellent company with these books. The book contains a copious amount of code and clear, diagramed explanations describing the processes transpiring in the machine.

Understanding Unix®/Linux Programming is designed to be used in an operating systems course with programmers fluent in C. Fortunately, though, the book can be used outside of the classroom if the reader does not mind an occasional open-ended questions with no included answers. The book may seem light on pages (530 including index), but the author should get an award for jamming so much useful explanation and helpful (and complete) code. The format of each chapter is familiar to most textbooks, with an introduction to the task at hand, explanations and examples, a summary, a list of explorations to further understand the topics presented, and a set of programming exercises. The exercises are creative and directly relate to the presented code. They're also (dare I say it?) fun. I'm not saying they'll replace crossword puzzles, but they do present creative or obvious challenges to the reader. (Like handling when a user types 'exit' from a shell, or blinking the text in an ncurses application).

The book includes topics on file I/O, device I/O, timers, process management, stream and datagram sockets, POSIX threads, file systems, the terminal driver, signals pipes, network programming and semaphores. A typical chapter will introduce an operating system concept (file systems and directories, for instance) and will briefly describe the current Unix command for working with that concept (pwd for determining the present working directory, or ls for listing the contents of a directory, and so forth). The author then proceeds to give a detailed description of what the operating system does to run the command. In the chapter on processes and programs, the author describes what processes are and how to use the ps command. Next the author describes how to fork child processes, and wait for them. This leads to the 'prompting shell', which is a simple, yet functional shell environment. Now some books would leave this exercise after creating a semi-functional shell, but the author presses on and in the next chapter creates 'small-shell' which is an interactive shell with a minimal scripting langauge and variable support. All of this in the span of 71 pages, with plenty of examples, full code listings, diagrams, and problem sets.

Understanding Unix®/Linux Programming takes advantage of the inquisitive nature of coders by presenting commands and command squences we all take for granted, and turning them into "how do they work" learning experiences. Anyone who has ever stopped to think why certain things work the way they do in Unix (or work at all) will find this book immensely helpful in sating that curiousity. Students who are assigned this textbook for a class should thank their teacher for choosing a genuinely useful text from which to read. I can't help but be jealous of students who will use this book for their classes. That jealousy is short-lived though, as anyone who wants an excellent resource for learning Unix programming will benefit from picking up this book. Kudos to the author for crafting not only an exceptionally easy to read and thourough book, but for taking the complex machinations of Unix and making them simple and accessible for all coders.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book on signals, June 1, 2003

By 

xliu (San Bernardino, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Understanding UNIX/LINUX Programming: A Guide to Theory and Practice (Paperback)

I have been looking for a book that went into details with signals and sockets. This has me a lot in my job and the book
has solved my programming problems in many ways. I hope many can make use of this book because I have. I definitely recommend this book for beginner on Unix programming. It has many good examples to follow.

Take the time to read this book. It is very resourceful and will give you a very good understanding of the Unix Kernel and Commands.