9780130083968

This book explains in a clear and coherent manner how Unix works, how to understand existing Unix programs, and how to design and create new Unix programs. The book is organized by subsystem, each presented in visual terms and explained using vivid metaphors. It breaks the information into manageable parts that can be presented, explained, and mastered.By using case studies and an extremely reader-friendly manner to illustrate complex ideas and concepts, the book covers the basics of systems programming, users, files and manuals, how to read a directory, using 1S, writing PWD, studying STTY, writing a video game, studying SH, environment and shell variables, I/O redirection and pipes, servers and sockets, writing a web server, license servers, and concurrent functions.For Unix system administrators and programmers, network programmers, and others who have used other operating systems and need to learn Unix programming to expand their skill sets.

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Bruce Molay is a teacher at Harvard and an independent software developer.

(NOTE: Each chapter includes a section stating its objectives and a summary.)
1. Unix Systems Programming: The Big Picture.
2. Users, Files, and the Manual: Who Is First.
3. Directories and File Properties: Looking through ls.
4. Focus on File Systems: Writing pwd.
5. Connection Control: Studying stty.
6. Programming for Humans: Terminal Control and Signals.
7. Event-Driven Programming: Writing a Video Game.
8. Processes and Programs: Studying sh.
9. A Programmable Shell: Shell Variables and the Environment.
10. I/O Redirection and Pipes.
11. Connecting to Processes Near and Far: Servers and Sockets.
12. Connections and Protocols: Writing a Web Server.
13. Programming with Datagrams: A License Server.
14. Threads: Concurrent Functions.
15. IPC Roundup: Can We Talk?

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EXPLAINING UNIXI wrote this book to explain how Unix works and to show you how to write system programs for Unix. Unix, still evolving after 30 years, has grown more complex, but it has not gotten more complicated. Its fundamental structure and design principles still apply. By understanding the structure, principles, and history, you will be able to read, enhance, and add to the vast accumulated literature of Unix programs. You also will have a lot of fun.To make the ideas really clear, I present them in many forms: pictures, analogies, pseudocode, real code, experiments, exercises, and anecdotes. These explanations evolve from actual, useful problems and projects. WHO IS PREPARED FOR THIS BOOK?You must know how to program in C. If you know C++, you should be able to follow the code and adapt quickly. You have to know about arrays, structs, pointers, and linked lists and be able to understand, and write, code that uses these.You need not have used Unix, nor do you need to know about the internals of an operating system. In each chapter, we start with the user-level features of Unix. The question, "What does that do?" at the user level leads inevitably to the system-level question, "How does it work?"You need to have access to a Unix system and a sense of adventure. WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?This book explains the components of a Unix system, what they do, the theory of how they work, and how to program using those components. You will also see how all these components fit together to form a coherent, intelligible operating system.This book is based on a course,Unix Systems Programming,which I have taught at the Harvard Extension School since 1990. Students have described, on course evaluations and by e-mail years later, what the course gave them. One student said the course gave him "the keys to the kingdom." He understood Unix at the user, programming, and theory levels well enough to feel he could go anywhere and make sense of most problems. A physician in the course liked the case-study approach, comparing it to the way medical interns learn by working real problems.Another student, one who went on to be a project leader at the Open Software Foundation, said the course taught him the ideas and skills he needed for that job. FOR WHICH VERSION OF UNIX IS THIS WRITTEN?Almost all of them, including GNU/Linux. The focus of the book is the structure and skills that form the basis of all versions of Unix, not the specific variations, from one dialect to the next. Once you understand the main ideas, those details are easy to pick up.

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Understanding UNIX/LINUX Programming A Guide to Theory and Practice

Understanding UNIX/LINUX Programming A Guide to Theory and Practice

0130083968

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