Unix Network Programming: The Sockets Networking API

by W. Richard Stevens, Bill Fenner, Andrew M. Rudoff

Book Overview

This is THE guide to UNIX network programming APIs. Whether you write Web servers, client/server applications, or any other network software, you need to understand networking APIS-especially sockets in greater detail than ever before. You need UNIX Network Programming, Volume 1, Third Edition. In this book, the Authors offer unprecedented, start-to-finish guidance on making the most of sockets, the de facto standard for UNIX network programming...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0131411551
• ISBN13: 9780131411555
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Length: 991 Pages
• Weight: 3.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 7.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

School Text

I was required to use this book for my networking programming class. I'm in my senior year of college and having quite a bit of experience with textbook, I can say with confidence that this is one of the better textbooks out there. You can definately teach yourself network programming with this book and the accompanied source examples.... makes a handy reference guide as well. Worth the investment for Computer Science Engineers.

What more needs to be said?

Im an Australian final year undergrad CS student, we used this as the text for a course 'Network Programming'. This book is very well written and explains not only the process of writing networked applications using C, but also how the actual protocols such as TCP, UDP etc work. This gives you a solid understanding of the 'whys' of network programming and not just the 'hows'. Overall this is a great book for those wanting to learn about network programming in Unix systems or those wanting a refresher. Highly recommended.

current classic

This book, as with all other Stevens books, can be used as either a tutorial or reference. The depth of information here is unparalleled. I continue to be impressed with the detail in this book. Fenner and Rudoff have done an outstanding job of maintaining quality and tradition this invaluable reference. Avid Stevens fans will not be disappointed. 3rd edition updates include: *IPv6 added *POSIX 1003.1-2001 added *XTI dropped *T/TCP dropped *SCTP added *Key Management Sockets for use with IPSec Added *Machines used for examples updated *Other material updated where appropriate (including new functions) I bought this book a year ago along with Stevens "Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment" I read most of this book as a tutorial on network programming. I continue to use it as reference. I also read all of APUE. Since then I've added TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1 and UNIX Network Programming, Volume 2 to my collection. I've come to apprecaite the painstaking detail, pure clarity, and conciseness that are the hallmarks of all Stevens books. I'm thankful that Rudoff and Fenner updated this classic. This book is all most will need for the sockets API. I don't have the second edition, but I'm quite happy with the third. It's good to have something that speaks to IPv6. This is the best of the old and new. I wouldn't mind seeing an updated version of TCP/IP Illustrated volumes 1 and 2 either if Fenner and Rudoff are up to it. All of the Stevens books compliment each other really well. Truth be told, the more Stevens books you read the better off you are.

Continuing the work of a legend in the field of CS

It would be difficult to put value on a book that has been a classic text and a reference in academia and in the real world in the context of Network Programming for over a decade. Richard Stevens published the ever-popular Unix Network Programming [UNP] back in 1990, followed the second edition in 1998. With a dedication to the memory of R. Stevens, the UNP book found itself two new authors, Bill Fenner and Andrew M. Rudoff, who would write the third edition of this book. The third edition has many updates, a new look and feel and many of new chapters that cover the topics more applicable these days. In my opinion, it is still the most valuable and profound text in the context of Network Programming. For those of us who have the first two editions of this book, the third edition has the following changes in effect:· IPv6 updates. In the second version of the book, IPv6 was merely a draft and the sections covering IPv6 has been updated to take these changes into effect.· POSIX updates. The functions/APIs and examples have been updated to reflect the changes to the latest version of the POSIX specification (1003.1-2001)· SCTP coverage. 3 new chapters that cover this new reliable, message-based transport protocol have been added.· Key Management Sockets coverage. Network security and its applicability and use with IPsec. · Updated Operating Systems and machines that are used to run the examples in the book.· Some topics such as Transaction TCP and X/Open Transport Interface have been dropped.Many topics and sections have been updated with the authors' comments. These comments even though simple for someone new to the profession, are extremely useful as they are like hints and tips from one developer to the next to help you out in your next programming assignment. If this is the only edition of the book that you are reading, you are in for a treat. Topics in Network Programming are covered in detail and using concrete programming examples that all of us can relate to - all Unix, but what else is there?! All kidding aside, the topics are covered well enough that they are useful information under any Operating System. The concepts don't change; sockets are sockets under any Operating System. The function call is different, but one needs to go thru the same steps under any environment. Being the most popular networking protocol, TCP/IP is covered in Part I of the book. One needs to have prior understanding of the TCP/IP protocol and the OSI model, however. If this is the first time you are looking at the programming aspects of networking protocols, Part I of this book will cover the basics. It starts you off with a couple of simple examples such as daytime client and a daytime server and it builds on that as the reader reads along. TCP, UDP and SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol) are covered in brief in Part I, and basic concepts such as the three-way handshake of TCP and the four-way handshake of SCTP are depicted. Part I

A New Classic

This will become the new classic of Unix Network Programming. When I first heard that there was a new edition, I was afraid that the classic would be destroyed. Although it is quite different and much of it has been done by "et al", it turns out to be quite good.Initially I did a quick scan and immediately saw some things missing (like FTP). However, after reading the book and realizing how infrequently I had referenced the missing parts in the first book, I was much happier. With the additional IPv6 information and newer technologies, this more than made up for the deletions (from volume one).The text is easy to read and flows logically. What really impressed me was the depth of the expertise. For me, there had been some stumbling blocks in TCP and UDP development early on (especially nuances of UDP) that took a fair amount of time to figure out. I was pleasantly surprised to see many of those difficulties laid out cleanly for anyone to figure out in a matter of minutes. That alone is worth the price of the book.The index is extensive and helpful. The questions at the end of each chapter are limited, but enough to be useful in a college course.The printing is high quality. The paper is high quality (thin, but strong so that the 1000 page book is not huge or heavy). The printing takes up much of the page (i.e., not two-inch borders like some books). The binding lies flat without separating the pages. Definitely a quality printing.Yes, a new classic.