Re: [SLUG] Book Recommendation

From: Jan Mason (jan.mason@xmtc.net)
Date: Thu May 13 2004 - 15:36:03 EDT


Matt Moen wrote:

>>Meyer, David R wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Hello,
>>>
>>>A co-worker of mine asked if there is such a book that converts DOS
>>>commands into Linux to help him learn how to do things.
>>>
>>>I don't know if such a book exists, but given the HUGE number of tech
>>>books, I was hoping someone out there may know of such a book and can
>>>point me in the right direction.
>>>
>>>I have searched online for one but didn't find anything that appears to
>>>be what he is looking for.
>>>
>>>Any help would be appreciated.
>>
>>Have your friend take a look at "The Art of UNIX Programming" by Eric S.
>>Raymond. This will help him get up to speed on the UNIX way of doing
>>things.
>>
>
>
> I'm not too familiar with this particular work by ESR, but it seems more
> targeted to programming.
>
> My personal recommendation is Think Unix, by Jon Lasser. I've never met
> him in person, but the one time I e-mailed him, he seemed like a really
> nice down-to-earth sort of Unix guru. And the times I gave the above
> book a quick browse (It's really more of a beginner book), I've found
> useful stuff and hints, and tons of jokes. (Part of the preface
> includes "If you didn't crack a smile once during this entire section,
> we might not get along.")
>
> The important thing about this book is, it's about the *nix philosophy.
> Steve's quick and dirty list in his message should cover many of the
> quick and dirty details, but if you're actually going to spend the time
> to learn the *nix shell, then this book is a very worthwhile investment.
>
> If you'd like a second opinion, then go look at the comments on amazon.
> Additionally, Slashdot had a review of this book when it was new. As
> its' content is largely "timeless" (from a computing sense of time at
> least) don't let it's age distract you from its' relevance.
>
Your right, it is programming centric but also has very good coverage of
the evolution/history of UNIX.

The slashdot review for "The Art of UNIX Programming" is at the
following location:
http://books.slashdot.org/books/03/10/20/1656259.shtml?tid=106&tid=126&tid=130&tid=156&tid=185&tid=190

Available for free at:
http://catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/

-- 
Jan Mason
jan.mason@xmtc.net

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