Linux Programming Unleashed [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Kurt Wall (Author), Mark Watson (Author), Mark Whitis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Linux Programming Unleashed is a complete and comprehensive reference for intermediate to advanced Linux developers that covers every possible use of Linux. Topics include: Core Linux Programming; Interprocess Communication; Device Drivers; Development Tools (make, Emacs, diff and patch, etc.); Programming the User Interface; programming (including Motif, Athena, GTK, QT, and more); Scripting; Security; System Programming Using Libraries; Package Management; and Licensing. Linux Programming Unleashed contains hundreds of professional programming techniques and code for many real world applications.

From the Back Cover
Linux Programming Unleashed is a complete and comprehensive reference for intermediate to advanced Linux developers that covers every possible use of Linux. Topics include: Core Linux Programming; Interprocess Communication; Device Drivers; Development Tools (make, Emacs, diff and patch, etc.); Programming the User Interface; programming (including Motif, Athena, GTK, QT, and more); Scripting; Security; System Programming Using Libraries; Package Management; and Licensing. Linux Programming Unleashed contains hundreds of professional programming techniques and code for many real world applications.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 818 pages
• Publisher: Sams Publishing; illustrated edition edition (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672316072
• ISBN-13: 978-0672316074
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.8 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,227,799 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Acceptable, but not excellent, October 15, 1999

By	"a_k" (Moscow Russia) - See all my reviews

Probably I would give it 3 stars and a quarter, or even one third, but obviously less than 4 stars.

The authors tried to cover nearly all the topics in linux programming (excluding databases). The results are quite mixed. The most of explanation is done using C, though C++ is also touched a couple of times.

The book consists of 6 parts.

Part 1 is the linux programming toolkit. Not bad at all. Suprising things are that gdb is described in part 5, and electric fence in part 2, not here.

Part 2 - System programming, Part 3 - Interprocess communication and networking. These parts are central and most valuable in the book. Good. Though I like Linux Application Development by M.K.Johnson and E.W.Troan better.

Part 4 - Programming the user interface. Very shallow. You can learn that such and such techniques exist but may hardly understand how to use them.

Part 5 - Special programming techniques. A strange feeling. As if the authors decided to collect here the material which they did'nt know where else to place.

Part 6 - Finishing touches (about creating the software packages and documentation). Not bad at all, though a little shallow again.

As it was already said in the previous reviews there are regular references to the non-existing CD.

RESUME: it is an acceptable book, espesially if you just start programming linux, or migrate from another platform. You will get acquainted quickly with the most necessary things. So if you have bought it, try to enjoy it:).

If you don't have it yet I recommend better to buy already mentioned Linux Application Development for both application and system programmers, plus Programming with Qt by M.Dalheimer or Developing Linux Application by E.Harlow if you are interested in GUI development for KDE or GNOME respectively.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference, January 10, 2000

By A Customer

I can't praise this book enough . It's definatley the best programming related book that I've bought . The authors feature many topics like GUI construction , shell scripting , ncurses , memory management , security issues ... even touching on 3d graphics with Mesa . If you're interested in finding out what can be done with *NIX systems from the shell to windowing environments then you'd be well advised to check this out . My only criticisms are the authors have spread themselves a little thin over a lot of topics and there are references to the CD which doesn't accompany the book ( but is available online ) .In a nutshell the book delves into various programming ideas and construction of bare bones applications you can extend yourself , the learning curve is excellent and it's well paced.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good work by Wall et al., October 11, 1999

By A Customer

I can see why someone might take one star away from this othewise five-star book (like I've done)because the source code is online instead on on a CD, but the one star reviews are ludicrous. The information here is great and you won't find it in one place anywhere else.

The source is on the Sams website and appears to be complete.

I can tell already that I will use this book frequently. Don't pass it up.