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The Linux Development Platform
The Linux Development Platform might be better titled "The GNU Development Platform" since almost all of the tools discussed come from the FSF, and those that don't are nevertheless open source; as a result they will run on almost any Unix variety. You know that the 'Linux' in the title is almost just a marketing ploy, but we will forgive Prentice Hall and the authors. Certainly more people will buy this book to learn about using these tools under Linux than under any other *nix variety.
The book starts with a short chapter on software development per se before getting down to the nuts and bolts. It starts in the obvious spot, with editors, and quickly covers choosing an editor before taking a brief look at Emacs, Jed and VIM. The rest of the book is devoted to much less contentious issues.
As a whole, the text provides a good grounding in using gcc, make, CVS and GDB, with enough extra information on smaller tools and larger issues (such as cross-platform and embedded systems) that you will not need more than this book and, perhaps, the man pages to understand and use these tools. Of course others, have written entire volumes on each of these topics, but for most of us this book will provide the information we need.
The Linux Development Platform comes with a CD containing the source for a fair number of the tools discussed, so you can build any tools which happen to be missing on your platform, though some of the included apps are, of course, already a version or two behind.
The writing is mixed in quality: while never bad, it has a slightly heavy, technical feel to it, often a bit wordy or cumbersome. This rarely gets in the way of understanding, but it does slow you down. The topic coverage is good, moving from a beginner level right through to a good understanding of each tool discussed. More importantly, all the tools you will need are covered.
I imagine this would make an excellent companion text for any programming course: note that it doesn't provide details on any programming language, but covers everything else you need to know regarding the development tools. It is thinnest in the discussion of editors, really only giving a brief overview of each. I cannot really see this as a fault since detailed coverage really would take a separate book, and this quick look is better than pretending to cover the topic well and failing. The other possible weakness is that there is almost no coverage of general Linux usage, so calling the book The Linux Development Platform is a bit of a misnomer -- it is really devoted to the tools available for development, not the underlying operating system at all. Once again, I feel that this lack is not serious; most buyers should know enough about the operating system and any attempt to cover it adequately would have swelled the size and cost of the book.
Prentice Hall PTR have a site for the book with a Table of Contents or you can see the whole book in HTML format at FAQs.org.
I would recommend this book to anyone who would like a good, general introduction to developing software on a Unix platform. Though it's not a cheap book, it is a good one. It was certainly a relief for me to find a good book in Prentice Hall's 'Bruce Peren Open Source Series' after a couple of flawed ones.
You can purchase The Linux Development Platform from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to submit a review for consideration, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Who modded this informative. Please look at the URL , he is using is own REF ID to make some money.
If you want money get a job .
Does it just cover the GCC suite? gcc, g77, p2c and such or does it include commercial tools like the Intel C/C++ compiler for Linux, Borland's C/C++ compiler, Portland Group's Fortran and C++ compilers?
Does it mention cross-platform or standards based (POSIX, or 4.3BSD and newer) development? That is likely one of the largest stumbling blocks for new developers who's project grows from meeting her needs into a popular project on multiple systems.
Does it explain how to work well with (or within) an open source project, like the linux kernel, XFree86, or any one of thousands hosted at SourceForge?
Back before the advent of Mac OS X, my favourite (and for many years, only) development environment was one variety of Unix or another.
So did he decide to switch to Windows when OS X came out or something? Mac OS X is a UNIX!
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
When I was a kid and first confronted with VI, I was like, WTF?, and then this girl showed me EMACS, and it was like a breath of fresh air. Ten years later, I've been using VIM for a month, and doing stuff related to editing in VIM is soooo much easier than with EMACS. You can essentially write your own VIM IDE in a day. What was I thinking?
Maybe the reviewer should have said "GNU/Linux" instead?
How *long* will the book be online for free? Can you dog-ear pages in the online book? Can you read it while you're riding the bus or taking a crap?
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