Linux Programming by Example

by Kurt Wall

For Linux courses covering programming where students have had exposure to C programming. Linux Programming By Example covers the basics to allow students to start programming working applications in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0789722151
• ISBN13: 9780789722157
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: Que
• Length: 533 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 7.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Catapult Your Understanding

For many mastering K & R marks the end of their investigation of C, this is a mistake. K & R is only a milestone and Linux Programming By Example shows you this.While armed with the book you will be able to put together almost any program you heart may desire. Making it truely a book that takes the skilled programmer and shows you why you bothered to study so hard.

Very decent book

The book consists of 5 parts, appendices (the 6th part) and covers the following topics:1. Introduction to Linux environment and basic development tools (gcc and make).2. System programming (processes, signals, system calls, file handling and daemons). 3. Some Linux APIs (Berkeley database, ncurses, sound API) and creating your own libraries.4. Interprocess communication (pipes, shared memory, semaphores and sockets).5. Programming utilities (RCS, gdb, RPM and other packaging).Everything is done using C. All explanations are clear and concise, and are illustrated by the sample project. Appendices contain lots of useful Internet links by categories.The book looks very good but in my opinion it could be even better if the author used C++ instead of C. Writing UI with ncurses is a bit obsolete, but the author has promised to write about Xwindow and OpenGL in his next book. We'll see.SUMMARY: in my opinion if you have at least a moderate Unix/Linux experience you won't learn too much from this book. But if you know a little about Unix/Linux programming (and have a working knowledge of C) you will probably love it.

Kurt Wall's Linux Programming truly rocks!

Kurt Wall's book truly rocks. Having spent serious time with Advanced Programming in the Unix environment, I can say that this book is far more accessible and useful. The book is structured in a very cluefull way by someone who really knows his way around the O/S. Further, it is very readable, with not-to-small,not-to-big chapters that cover material well, but don't leave you dragging through pages of extra material. I want to emphasize this: this is a Quality Book, not like those hulking 900 pagers with big type...The material is extremely well covered! Coupled with a good book on system administration, this book would make a wonderful Advanced Introduction to the Unix/Linux Operating System course. The examples are well thought out, the code instructive... This thing is just wonderful! - Jay

Seems good so far.

The book is very much in the style of Stephen Williams' Advanced Programming in the UNIX environment. Similar concepts and explanations, but held tightly in the Linux realm and style. Deviations and additions of LINUX to the POSIX standards are shown, and the book is full of examples that more often than not illustrate the point at hand with out other excess baggage.Although not finished yet, it has been very good so far.