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npoole asks: "Like many of the Slashdot readers, I am a programmer and have been pushing out repetitive database content for about a year. The work simply doesn't stop and the more we get it seems the less we ensure quality work. I have been debating telling my boss that either we take less clients, less money, more quality work or I am leaving. Is this a smart thing to do? I'm making very good money doing quick hacks to push out websites, but it's not very project oriented as much as it's become 'throw in pre-written, pre-used functions'. Any advice on how to ensure quality in our work without telling my boss it's either my way or the highway?" Of course, improved quality in any product affects the bottom line, and it's the bottom line that managers are paid to keep up. How can a developer communicate to managers (both open and closed) the value of better quality in development, and how long should one try before giving up?

Mike Hostetler has sent in a review of the "red book" Unix System Administration. Not so much a book for the home user, this book is for all of you out there with a network to contend with. If the armadillo book was one you enjoyed, then click below for more info. Unix System Administration Handbook author Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass & Trent R. Hein pages publisher Prentice Hall PTR rating 9/10 reviewer Mike Hostetler ISBN ISBN 0-14-151051-7 summary Must have book for UNIX system administration REVIEW: Unix System Administration Handbook
(a.k.a. The Red Book) Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass & Trent R. Hein (Prentice Hall PTR, ISBN 0-14-151051-7)

Nutshell
Review: Must have book for UNIX system administration
Rating: 9/10
Mike Hostetler (home)

NOTE: I'm not going to compare this book to ORA's Armadillo Book. I haven't used it, but have glanced through it. They are very much alike. I'll let the readers compare the two in the comments section.

The Scenario

Need a guide to help set up sendmail? Want some assistance in troubleshooting your DNS config? In essence, if you want a go-to book for administrating your UNIX-like machine, then this is the book for you.

What's Bad?

I can only see two things wrong with this book, both of which are small. First of all, I have the second edition (I'm sure the first one is way out of print) which is copyrighted 1995. Needless to say, things have changed a bit. Like there is no discussion about Linux-specific things, unlike their discussions when Solaris, SunOS, HP-UX, etc., are different then the norm. Also, some of the way things are done are different now. Like the book says that OSPF is a "new" TCP/IP protocal, though they do accurately predict that OSPF will become wide-spread, especially in large networks.

The second thing is even smaller. This book is written for people who administrate a large UNIX server or servers on networks. People who have their UNIX box at home will get less use out of this book then people who administrate a server in the work place. But, then again, people who aren't on a dedicated network doesn't have as many problems, or they don't have to be as careful about as many things.

What's Good?

As a quote on the back of the book says, "This is not a nice, neat book for a nice, clean world. It's a nasty book for a nasty world." The Red Book is complicated at times but it has to be - the problems it is trying to solve are complicated. This book is alway extremely practical, and no where else is practicality needed more then in system administration. They never say, "this should work" but "if that doesn't work, try this".

The authors definitely know their material, they know how to present it, and they know how to write about complex problems so Joe Admin knows how to fix them. The OS-specific sections, like, for example, when Solaris acts differently then the rest of the world, are especially good. And example config files are present when needed. And, as an added bonus, the cartoons at the beginning of each chapter are quite humorous.

So What's In It For Me?

If you want help administrating your UNIX computer, then don't hesitate - get this book.

Buy this book at Amazon and help Slashdot out.

Table of Contents

1. Basic Administration
2. Booting and Shutting Down
3. Rootly Powers
4. The Filesystem
5. Controlling Processes
6. Adding New Users
7. Devices and Drivers
8. Serial Devices
9. Adding A Disk
10. Periodic Processes
11. Backups
12. Syslog and Log Files
13. Configuring the Kernel
14. TCP/IP and Routing
15. Network Hardware
16. The Domain Name System
17. The Network File System
18. Sharing System Files
19. SLIP and PPP
20. The Internet
21. Electronic Mail
22. Network Management
23. Security
24. Usenet News
25. Printing and Imaging
26. Disk Space Management
27. Hardware Maintenance
28. Accounting
29. Performance Analysis
30. UUCP
31. Daemons
32. Policy and Politics

Mike Hostetler has graciously taken the time and energy to send a review of Neil Matthew and Richard Stones' Beginning Linux Programming. The title isn't quite what it would seem, so if you want more info, click below. Beginning Linux Programming author Neil Matthew and Richard Stones pages publisher Wrox Press rating 6.5/10 reviewer Mike Hostetler ISBN 1-874416-68-0 summary A good sharpen-your-skills-book REVIEW: Beginning Linux Programming Neil Matthew and Richard Stones (Wrox Press, ISBN 1-874416-68-0)

Nutshell
Review: A good sharpen-your-skills-book
Rating: 6.5/10
reviewed by Mike Hostetler (home) The Scenario

I bought Beginning Linux Programming in an effort to sharpen my pathetic C skills. The book touchs all sorts of subjects like TCL, CGI, and HTML, but mainly is introducing C programming in the UNIX environment - exec, pipes, redirects, threads, sockets, and, yes, even semaphores.

What's Bad?

Beginning Linux Programming was an ambitous effort from the beginning - the point was to touch on each subject but not get too bogged down on details. That, I think, is it's biggest downfall. The book gives a simple example of each idea and then goes on to the next concept. Naturally, the focus of the book is not to give you a deep understanding of each and every concept, but it definitely made me hungry for more.

Also, the word "beginning" in the title is misleading. In most people's thinking, "beginning" would mean "just learning how to program." However, this books already assumes you have some (but not great) knowledge of C. You will not learn how to program in C from this book. However, you will learn how to program different UNIX concepts in C.

What's Good?

This is one of the most readable Linux/UNIX books I have ever read. Matthew and Stone are good writers and good explainers. And they know their subject matter - no doubt about that. Also, there is a plethora of code in this book - lots of examples to go by. And, for the lazy ones, all the code is downloadable from the Wrox web site.

So What's In It For Me?

If you are like me and have pathetic C programming skills and want to improve them, then this is a must. If you know C well but just want to learn how to program in the UNIX environment, then this book probably isn't for you. If you already know C and UNIX programming, then don't bother - you won't get anything out of it.

If you are interested in purchasing this book, and supporting Slashdot, head over to this Amazon page and pick it up.

Summary of Contents

• Development Tools
• Shell
• Files
• Terminals
• Curses
• Unix Environment
• Databases
• Processes and Signals
• Pipes
• IPC Shared Memory/Semaphors/Messages
• Sockets
• UNIX Development Tools
• Debugging and Optimizing
• X Windows Programming
• Tcl/Tk Programming
• Programming the Internet - HTML
• Programming the Internet - CGI
• The FSF and GNU Project
• Getting Started with Linux
• Internet Resources