Unix Shell Programming Tools with CDROM (Unix Tools) [Paperback]

David Medinets (Author), Dave Medinets (Author)

Book Description

Series: Unix Tools | Publication Date: February 22, 1999

This text presents a collection of shell programming tools necessary to unlock the power of the UNIX operating system. The book also features practical programming in Perl and C, with a CD-ROM showing different UNIX shells and a code open for customization.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

David Medinets's Unix Shell Programming Tools surveys the commands and code elements of the three scripting languages that are most commonly used in Unix: the Bash shell, Perl, and the Tool Command Language (Tcl). The book catalogs each of the different languages and uses short, descriptive code samples to demonstrate standard usage for most of the items discussed.

Medinets dedicates nearly half of the book to an ample discussion of the Bash shell and creates special chapters focused on the constituent elements of shell programming, including the creation of variables and procedures. While discussions on Perl and Tcl are separated into distinct chapters, each has fewer code samples to illustrate variations on code writing and usage. Instead, the author supplements the discussions on Perl and Tcl with dictionary-entry-style charts describing each language component by component.

Later chapters in the book examine debugging and pattern matching in all three languages and include a Unix command list. The accompanying CD-ROM includes shareware tools, utilities, and all of the code samples shown in the book. --Ryan Kuykendall

Review

"...a superb book and demonstrates one of the best approaches to learning shell programming that I have read." -- Elizabeth Zinkann, SysAdmin Journal, October 1999

Product Details

• Paperback: 568 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies (February 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0079137903
• ISBN-13: 978-0079137906
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 3.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,123,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #83 in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Unix > Shell

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent enough reference, but not recommended for beginners, August 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Unix Shell Programming Tools with CDROM (Unix Tools) (Paperback)

This book has a lot of reference info on Bash, Perl, and Tcl/Tk commands and options, especially lots of tables. However, I wouldn't recommend it for beginners to programming in these languages, since his explanations of many topics is rather turgid and unclear. In addition, the number of typos and just plain errors is unacceptably high for a book that puports to show beginners how to do shell programming. Overall, a good book for the reference shelf, but only for those who already have some knowledge of this kind of programming.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars sh != bash && linux != unix, June 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Unix Shell Programming Tools with CDROM (Unix Tools) (Paperback)

The Bourne Again Shell isn't even standard on unix systems and the constant mention of linux as something synonomous is just pathetic. I'm sorry I ever got this book. Get UNIX Power Tools instead. It costs a few bucks more, but this book is pathetic. If you want to learn to use shell scripts on multiple platforms, this isn't the book. It's strongly GNU/Linux orientated, but that won't help you in the real world with unix OS's

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, and good examples., January 6, 2000

By 

Mike Gnitecki - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unix Shell Programming Tools with CDROM (Unix Tools) (Paperback)

This book is very well done, and has many good code examples. I highly recommend it.