Linux Programmer's Reference: Amazon.co.uk: Richard Petersen: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

Linux Programmer's Reference, Second Edition is a difficult book type to carry off successfully. If complete, it will run to thousands of pages. If it isn't complete, what information should be included?

For this relatively small book (400 pages in a small format), author Richard Peterson has pruned his topic ruthlessly. The first three chapters cover shell programming in Bash, TCSH and Z. (These could have done with a little more pruning: there's too much repetition, and Bash would have been enough). Chapter four covers the gcc compiler, libraries, debuggers and packagers--all in 50 pages. It's assumed you're already competent in C and C++. In effect, you get an overview of the built-in programming tools of Gnu/Linux. Chapter five introduces higher-level programming utilities including make and the revision control system. Chapter six provides an overview of Gnome programming with GTK+, Glib and GDK so naturally chapter seven does the same for KDE and Qt. The appendices cover Perl, TCl/Tk and TeX/LaTeX. (Why not Python? The selection here seems somewhat arbitrary.)

Linux Programmer's Reference, Second Edition is aimed at programmers who need a quick reminder or pointer to areas outside their normal work. On balance, despite good, accurate information, this book is overly ambitious. For example, although the publisher claims on the cover that readers will "Master the features of kernel 2.2", the word "kernel" doesn't appear in the index. While it may be useful to have around, Linux Programmer's Reference, Second Edition isn't a kernel programmer's reference.--Steve Patient --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Author is a recognized Linux expert--PC Magazine calls Peterson ""an impressive technical writer."" Contains alphabetical reference of every major Linux command, syntax, description, and example. Provides time-saving insight as to when a certian command is better used over another. Efficiently covers the various Linux programmilng shells--BASH (standard, easy-to-use commands, TCSH (syntax similar to C, more of a traditional structure), and the Z shell (incorporates features of other two shells with better support for functions).

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

A Good user guide, but not a programmer's reference 6 Nov 1998

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I was very disappointed with this book. It seemed to be documenting the user interface to a Linux system rather than providing reference information on designing or writing programs for Linux. It concerns itself more with the tools, and even there only provides an introduction to each tool rather then a reference.

Maybe my expectations were wrong, but the programmer's references I own for DOS contain details of the DOS & BIOS API calls, those for OS/2 contain details of the OS/2 API etc. They assume that you already know how to program, and provide information on the specifics of writing programs for that particular operating system. I was expecting that Linux Programmer's Reference would do the same for Linux.

On a more positive note, it provides a good reference on shell commands. Even there, I did not find it as good as Linux in a Nutshell.

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essentail reference guide for those who use Linux 13 May 2000

This is a handy book for those who are new to the Linux OS. It lists essential keywords, commands and functions needed for application use or development. For those who wish to design and compile their own Linux kernel or applications the insight to the development tools is concise and non-complex. There is also a reference to those who are familiar with Perl, LateX and Tcl/Tk.

Superb reference for the experienced developer 14 Nov 1999

This is a great text for those who are already experienced developers, but who need a desktop reference for stuff like shell scripting, RCS management, RPM, make and autoconf as well as gcc options. Great reference material, but certainly not useful for the beginner or casual user.