What a great account of the early days of computing. The content is very engaging and entertaining. I love the stories of how things used to be and how this whole concept of a multi-user operating system came to be from concept to implementation. It's always nice to read a historical book that recounts a part of history I actually lived through :).
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About the author
Entertaining and insightful
I’ve been hoping for many years that Brian Kernighan might someday write a Unix history book. No one else on earth is as qualified to write such a book.This book touched on a lot of interesting topics, including:• The technical history of Unix (how it descended from Multics, how pipes were invented, etc.)• The origins of various tools that we take for granted today, including diff, awk, and more• Why the Unix shell language doesn’t resemble C• The origins of C and its impact• Brief biographies of several of the main players in Unix• Humorous illustrations of the laid back culture at Bell Labs• A brief history of Bell Labs and some important discoveries made there in various fields• What made Bell Labs such a ripe environment for innovation• Could something like Unix happen again? (Spoiler: His belief is that there will never be another major operating system that isn’t a descendant of Unix, but we will definitely see such innovation in other areas.)What really ties this all together is Dr. Kernighan explaining all of this from his own perspective. He explains how he got to Bell Labs, what his relationships were like with his famous colleagues, how he became interested in programming languages and writing books, and much more.As for the quality of the printing, I can say this. The cover looks like a JPG, but the text inside is as sharp as any other book. The quality of the cover doesn’t detract at all from the enjoyment I got from this book.I hope this is only the first of a series of history books from Dr. Kernighan. There’s still more to be said about the people who created Unix. I would love to see entire books on the biographies of Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, and many more of the people mentioned in this book. There’s not much written about their lives before Bell Labs that I’m aware of. I would love to know what made them such innovative thinkers.Wonderful book. I’m very thankful for this.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2019
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2019
I’ve been hoping for many years that Brian Kernighan might someday write a Unix history book. No one else on earth is as qualified to write such a book.
This book touched on a lot of interesting topics, including:
• The technical history of Unix (how it descended from Multics, how pipes were invented, etc.)
• The origins of various tools that we take for granted today, including diff, awk, and more
• Why the Unix shell language doesn’t resemble C
• The origins of C and its impact
• Brief biographies of several of the main players in Unix
• Humorous illustrations of the laid back culture at Bell Labs
• A brief history of Bell Labs and some important discoveries made there in various fields
• What made Bell Labs such a ripe environment for innovation
• Could something like Unix happen again? (Spoiler: His belief is that there will never be another major operating system that isn’t a descendant of Unix, but we will definitely see such innovation in other areas.)
What really ties this all together is Dr. Kernighan explaining all of this from his own perspective. He explains how he got to Bell Labs, what his relationships were like with his famous colleagues, how he became interested in programming languages and writing books, and much more.
As for the quality of the printing, I can say this. The cover looks like a JPG, but the text inside is as sharp as any other book. The quality of the cover doesn’t detract at all from the enjoyment I got from this book.
I hope this is only the first of a series of history books from Dr. Kernighan. There’s still more to be said about the people who created Unix. I would love to see entire books on the biographies of Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, and many more of the people mentioned in this book. There’s not much written about their lives before Bell Labs that I’m aware of. I would love to know what made them such innovative thinkers.
Wonderful book. I’m very thankful for this.
This book touched on a lot of interesting topics, including:
• The technical history of Unix (how it descended from Multics, how pipes were invented, etc.)
• The origins of various tools that we take for granted today, including diff, awk, and more
• Why the Unix shell language doesn’t resemble C
• The origins of C and its impact
• Brief biographies of several of the main players in Unix
• Humorous illustrations of the laid back culture at Bell Labs
• A brief history of Bell Labs and some important discoveries made there in various fields
• What made Bell Labs such a ripe environment for innovation
• Could something like Unix happen again? (Spoiler: His belief is that there will never be another major operating system that isn’t a descendant of Unix, but we will definitely see such innovation in other areas.)
What really ties this all together is Dr. Kernighan explaining all of this from his own perspective. He explains how he got to Bell Labs, what his relationships were like with his famous colleagues, how he became interested in programming languages and writing books, and much more.
As for the quality of the printing, I can say this. The cover looks like a JPG, but the text inside is as sharp as any other book. The quality of the cover doesn’t detract at all from the enjoyment I got from this book.
I hope this is only the first of a series of history books from Dr. Kernighan. There’s still more to be said about the people who created Unix. I would love to see entire books on the biographies of Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, and many more of the people mentioned in this book. There’s not much written about their lives before Bell Labs that I’m aware of. I would love to know what made them such innovative thinkers.
Wonderful book. I’m very thankful for this.
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Top reviews from other countries
Adriano Holanda
Great timeline of a fertile environment at Bell Labs
Reviewed in Brazil on July 17, 2021Ray Moody
Recommended to anyone with an interest in the history of computing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 15, 2024
Matteo Smaila
Qualità della stampa della copertina un po' scarsa
Reviewed in Italy on May 16, 2023