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Summary: A rarity - a great computer book.
Review: The computer industry is notable for the huge quantity of really bad books it engenders. This, however, is not one of those books - this is a great book. Before explaining why it is great, I'd like to get the table of contents out of the way, so that you will know what it covers:Preface 1. Introduction (a "whirlwind tour of Unix") 2. Unix Standardization and Implementations 3. File I/O 4. Files and Directories 5. Standard I/O Library 6. System Data Files and Information 7. The Environment of a Unix Process 8. Process Control 9. Process Relationships 10. Signals 11. Terminal I/O 12. Advanced I/O 13. Daemon Processes 14. Interprocess Communication 15. Advanced Interprocess Communication 16. A Database Library 17. Communicating with a PostScript Printer 18. A Modem Dialer 19. Pseudo Terminals Appendices A. Function Prototypes B. Miscellaneous Source Code (all source code is available for download) C. Solutions to Selected Exercises Bibliography Index The first thing to understand about the book is that while it can be used as just a reference work (the index is wonderful), it really is a book you can and should read. Even if you think you know a lot of this stuff, you can be surprised at what you can still learn. What makes the book so much more useful than just a collection of man-page print-outs (that dreary and painfully common form of UNIX "book") is the method of presentation. Stevens' basic atom of organization is the function call. For each call (or minor variations on a single call), he provides the C prototype, and then, in text, explains what the function does, what it's arguments are for, and then typically provides a small C program that demonstrates it in action, which he then explains. These function-level building blocks are arranged into related sets, each of which is a chapter in the book. Each chapter has a wrapper that consists of an introduction explaining some basic concepts and history of the functions described in that chapter, and some review exercises at the end. The chapters themselves are arranged so that the earlier chapters describe the basic functions, and the later chapters describe the more difficult functions. Every chapter both teaches the reader something of immediate use in writing code (even the introduction has sample programs), as well as preparing him for the more difficult subjects that lie ahead. Now for the caveats. Stevens absolutely assumes that you know how to program in C and that you know how to use Unix development tools (or at least that you have some other source from which to learn them). This is not the book to learn how to use C or particular shells, editors, compilers, linkers, or debuggers. Similarly, new Unix variants, such as Linux and MacOS X, receive no specific mention here at all (though the book is invaluable for both). Also, there is no discussion of the various GUI interfaces offered on many current Unix systems - for those, some other book will necessary. One other thing worth mentioning is the cost of the book. Don't be put off by it - Stevens' book has been justifying that cost for a lot of readers for a lot of years. In closing, I've been a developer for many years and have owned many computer books. I recommend very few of them, but can't recommend this one highly enough. It is one of the few books I've had that routinely lies open beside me when I work. In addition to my personal recommendation, you might look not only at all the positive reviews for this book, but also at the reviews for "competitive" books and notice how often they refer you back to this one. This book is the standard by which other UNIX programming books are measured, and so far, it has not been surpassed.
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Summary: Lucid Systemprogramming
Review: A superb book, a classic. Good explanations and lot's of ready to use code segments. Stevens was a Guru to most programmers and all appreciated his writings very much. I give only the table of contents, because that is something I like in reviews about such kinds of books: 1.) Introduction, 2.) Unix Standardization and Implementations, 3.) File I/O, 4.) Files and Directories, 5.) Standard I/O Library, 6.) System Data Files and Information, 7.) The Environment of a Unix Process, 8.) Process Control, 9.) Process Relationships, 10.) Signals, 11.) Terminal I/O, 12.) Advanced I/O, 13.) Daemon Processes, 14.) Interprocess Communication, 15.) Advanced Interprocess Communication, 16.) A Database Library, 17.) Communicating with a PostScript Printer, 18.) A Modem Dialer, 19.) Pseudo Terminals. For many topics one needs his further books. Either the tripple set about TCP/IP or the double set about network programming. The last one is the newest book of him, just finished, before he died.
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Summary: Excellent book on UNIX programming
Review: It is only book I have seen that illustrate unix programming so clear and so detail. Mr.stevens makes many difficult fetures of unix to easy grasp.In the book ,author describes more than 200 system calls and functions;a brief example accompanies each description. Building upon information presented in the first 15 chapters, the author offers chapter-long examples teaching you howto create a database library, a PostScript printer driver, a modem dialer, and a program that runs other programs under apseudo terminal. To make your analysis and understanding of this code even easier, and to allow you to modify it, all of the code in the book is available via UUNET.
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Summary: Lucid Explanations to understand UNIX !
Review: This is inarguably the best book you can find to learn UNIX programming. Not only is everything that is required clearly explained with examples, the author goes out of his way to give us pertinent extra information. Buy it!
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Summary: "A Reader" from MI rates it one star?
Review: How could anyone objectively rate this incredible text at one star!? Have you read any of it or do you just pick books to "dis"? This book, like all of Steven's books, is fantastic. And I'm not a Unix guru or a C guru.
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Summary: Great book
Review: The book is invaluable. The topics are covered clearly and deeply, this book is written with the word "teaching" in mind.
If you want to know how Unix works, this is a must-buy.
Lots of clear and useful code are included; the author not only effectively explains, but involves you in reading well-written code to let you comfortably understand also the most advanced aspects of Unix system programming.
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Summary: Great book
Review: I loved this book. You can open it anywhere and read it from there.
Text is very clear written and examples are just great. I fill like this book and some time :) is all I need to learn UNIX programming.
Highly recomended.
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Summary: One of Two Must-Have UNIX Books
Review: This is one of two must-have UNIX books ("UNIX Network Programming" and "Advanced Programming for the UNIX Environment"). After I had been using UNIX for a long time and was getting into more advanced UNIX programming about a decade ago, these two books were recommended. I checked around and made comparisons. Sure enough, I had to agree. I bought both of them and use them a lot, even when doing Windows programming. As an example, I had to reference them again this weekend. I am using Visual Basic and C++ under Windows to connect some UDP/IP communications between applications. Once again, these books were indispensable (even after looking at online help, Google, Microsoft Knowledge Base and Experts-Exchange). Any Internet professional should have both of these books on their shelf.
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Summary: The ESSENTIAL C Reference
Review: If you are going to program in C, this is THE book to get. Simple as that. It has a comprehensive, logically organized walkthrough of every system call in every UNIX variant of C, and examples of how to use each. There are a host of sample problems and corresonding source code to demonstrate these examples, and an excellent explanation of the function of each element of the C language. Everything from basic I/O to terminals is covered, which should be enough to write your own operating system if you ever felt the inclination to do so. All the important defined constants are listed out in tables. The book has a very clear structure that makes it easy to find what you want when you want it. There's also an exhaustive index that assists in the reference of more obscure items. Since C is still used as a 'high-level assembly language,' especially in the development of fast applications like operating systems, this is a necessary reference in the library of any programmer. Accept no substitutes- Stevens' book is the very best.
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Summary: APUE is the standard for Unix/POSIX API programming
Review: Simply stated, Stevens' _APUE_ is the standard for learning the POSIX APIs for file/directory I/O and operations, processes, signals. (The only thing this book doesn't cover is threads, probably due to the fact that this book came out in 1992.) Required reading for any aspiring Unix system programmer, this book serves as both a great book for learning as well a reference. I've had this book for close to 10 years, and I still refer to it. Evrey Unix programmer should have a copy of this book.
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