Linux System Programming: Talking Directly to the Kernel and C Library (Paperback)

by Robert Love (Author)
Key Phrases: advanced file, advanced process management, mapping files, Real-Time Systems, Memory Management, Concepts of Linux Programming (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This book is about writing software that makes the most effective use of the system you're running on -- code that interfaces directly with the kernel and core system libraries, including the shell, text editor, compiler, debugger, core utilities, and system daemons. The majority of both Unix and Linux code is still written at the system level, and Linux System Programming focuses on everything above the kernel, where applications such as Apache, bash, cp, vim, Emacs, gcc, gdb, glibc, ls, mv, and X exist. Written primarily for engineers looking to program (better) at the low level, this book is an ideal teaching tool for any programmer. Even with the trend toward high-level development, either through web software (such as PHP) or managed code (C#), someone still has to write the PHP interpreter and the C# virtual machine. Linux System Programming gives you an understanding of core internals that makes for better code, no matter where it appears in the stack. Debugging high-level code often requires you to understand the system calls and kernel behavior of your operating system, too. Key topics include: An overview of Linux, the kernel, the C library, and the C compiler Reading from and writing to files, along with other basic file I/O operations, including how the Linux kernel implements and manages file I/O Buffer size management, including the Standard I/O library Advanced I/O interfaces, memory mappings, and optimization techniques The family of system calls for basic process management Advanced process management, including real-time processes File and directories-creating, moving, copying, deleting, and managing them Memory management -- interfaces for allocating memory, managingthe memory you have, and optimizing your memory access Signals and their role on a Unix system, plus basic and advanced signal interfaces Time, sleeping, and clock management, starting with the basics and continuing through POSIX clocks and high resolution timers With Linux System Programming, you will be able to take an in-depth look at Linux from both a theoretical and an applied perspective as you cover a wide range of programming topics.

About the Author
Robert Love has been a Linux user and hacker since the early days. He is active in, and passionate about, both the Linux kernel and GNOME desktop communities. His recent contributions to the Linux kernel include work on the kernel event layer and inotify. GNOME-related contributions include Beagle, GNOME Volume Manager, NetworkManager, and Project Utopia. Currently Robert works in the Open Source Program Office at Google.

As an author, Robert is responsible for Linux Kernel Development (SAMS), now in its second edition, and Linux System Programming (O'Reilly). He is also a coauthor of the fifth edition of O'Reilly's Linux in a Nutshell. He's a Contributing Editor for Linux Journal, has written numerous articles, and has been invited to speak around the world on Linux.

Robert graduated from the University of Florida with a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.S. in Computer Science. Hailing from South Florida, he currently calls Boston home.

Product Details

• Paperback: 388 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc. (September 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596009585
• ISBN-13: 978-0596009588
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #56,539 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite deep enough, November 15, 2007

By	Simon Perreault (Québec, QC, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Overall this book is very good. It is particularly well written and enjoyable to read, as are all of Robert Love's previous books.

However, it's fairly small and could go into more detail. For example, I would have liked a discussion of edge-triggered vs. level-triggered epoll() usage. The author mentions that edge-triggered needs a different programming style. What is it? Is it better? Regarding signal handling, the author hints at injecting signals into the event loop, but how could one do it concretely? On the subject of I/O buffering, not much is said except that standard I/O exists. But I'm here for the meat, and I want to know how to implement my own I/O buffering! Pretty much every chapter ends when the fun is about to begin.

I'm still hungry. Nevertheless, every system programmer for Linux should read this book. I hope for an expanded second edition.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a book full of hints, but seldom tells you how to actually do it, November 22, 2007

By	a reader - See all my reviews

I have to agree completely with the previous reviewer that this book lacks meat. In this book, after discussing each issue, the author typically hints that there exists a solution, but does not tell you exactly how to implement the solution. The book is sprinkled with snippets of code that are almost always incomplete, and very rarely explained.
In the Bibliography section, the author did not include two of the most important books that cover related material: 1. "Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment," by W. Richard Stevens, and 2. "Programming with POSIX Threads," by David R. Butenhof. Perhaps the author did not want readers to compare his book to these two books, because in these two books, every important concept is illustrated with program code examples that are fully compilable, fully working, and fully explained!
The author could make a very significant contribution if only he could follow the examples of the above two books.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth money, April 12, 2008

By	Jaebin Yoon "Firmware Engineer" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you expect the quality of the author's other books from this book, you'll be disappointed. It just lists system calls and their descriptions that you can find from man pages without any serious examples. It doesn't provide any insight or thorough coverage you can find from other books such as Steven's book (Advance Programmng in Unix environment).

From the book title, I expected the author's insight over interface between user space program and kernel but it just looks like that it copied man pages in some order. If you want to learn sysetm programming in Linux environment, look for other books, seriously.