Mac OS X Unix 101 Byte-Sized Projects (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Unix is no longer someone else's OS. With Mac OS X built on top of it, Unix  is becoming a household name, and more and more Mac users are ready to take it on. This book is for them!

Based on a popular series of Unix tips, this book promises to deliver what most other Unix guides fail to: comprehensive tutorials and instruction on specific Unix subjects, commands, and projects, not just a handy reference guide. Arranged into 101 mini tutorials in 11 key technology areas, this book provides all the tricks, techniques, and training that you need to understand how the system works and start using it immediately.  You will quickly learn the basics to working with the Unix command line as well as work on specific tutorials/exercises, including: browsing and searching the directory file-system; viewing, searching, and processing file content; using text editors; shell scripting; cool commands; and more.

About the Author

Adrian Mayo has been involved with technology and Unix for over 20 years. As Editor for OSXFAQ.com, he contributes content for Unix Tutorials, Unix Tips, and Mac OS X tips. He is a software engineer, specializing in the development of safety and mission critical systems, and a former Web developer for PHP and MySQL database back-ends.

Product Details

• Paperback: 632 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press (December 24, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321374118
• ISBN-13: 978-0321374110
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #738,732 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A taste of 'geekdom', November 1, 2007

By	Terry Sanders (NYC, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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There's a not-so-fine line between knowing your instrument, which serves a specific purpose or purposes, & being a geek. This book walks the line. There's so much more we, as Mac-users, can gain from understanding UNIX, but, of course, there's a limit to how much time & effort can be invested into gaining this insight.

I look at it this way: the time, frustration & money I save just by being able to competently maintain, get around limitations of the OSX interface & repair my system is more than enough compensation. This is the easiest to follow & understand of many UNIX books I've read, or attempted to read. If you have a little patience, this book will bestow rewards.

5.0 out of 5 stars Among the best of available titles introducing UNIX to Mac users, February 23, 2009

By	W. White "Googlyelmo" (Seattle by way of Brooklyn) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Along with Matisse Enzer's Unix for Mac OS 10.4/Tiger, this is just about the best available title introducing Unix to the Mac user. There are lots of other great *Nix titles oriented variously at different levels of experience and user needs, but for the Mac Power User (which I define as not necessarily a geek or hacker, but someone who under pre-X used to do clean-installs, use ResEdit, could find/delete invisibles, and was comfortable using Norton and the full range of Classic utils, and who wishes to achieve the same level of proficiency under OS X [which of course means learning the unix CLI]) this is an excellent starting point. The book assumes both a level of confidence and good sense (RTFM!) that isn't always that common. You know who you are. The organization of this book into "projects" is one of its big strengths. It claims to proceed from simple to complex, from common to obscure, though I dont really see that. Each chapter presents a small topic (such as aliases and functions), and treats it in pretty great depth, with examples, exercises, and especially terrific cross references to other chapters/projects. This makes it easy to find the section matching what you want and need to do. On the other hand, topics are not all grouped intuitively right next to each other in series, though it is a remarkably easy to navigate book. You could read this book through, trying everything out as you went, but that would be tedious. Having the book on your desk for reference when needed, and also taking a crack at new subjects for fun and education's sake when you have a few free minutes, Mayo has put together a really terrific resource that I strongly recommend. Nearly exhaustive, what this book doesn't cover falls into the realm of the truly advanced and specialized, and what it misses in depth it fully admits to and refers the reader on to sources that can aid him. This book does not cover Leopard specifically (though it does cover the PPC/Intel differences, in areas such as nvram and sysctl, among others), but fear not. Although Leopard is a huge leap forward, most things Unix have not appreciably changed since Panther/10.3.x, and even if not revised again this title should continue to be a great tool going forward even into Snow Leopard (whenever that arrives. . .)

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for helping with Unix, December 28, 2008

By	Danny M. Uff (Allentown, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've gotten this book a few months ago, and I am still using it for reference with the Unix side of Mac OS X.

This book is great for those "little projects" that someone may want to do on there lunch break or just to get to know the Unix side of Mac OS X.