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Linux Programming by Example
What's To Like There are many things to like about this book (over and above the fact that page 118 has my all-time favourite UserFriendly cartoon on it :-). Linux Programming by Example (LinuxPbE hereafter) takes a steady, incremental path through the concepts required to write software that can effectively interact with the Linux environment.
It is a truism many of us have proven multiple times in our lives that one of the finest learning tools available to programmers is to read and grok good, working code, written in the language that we are learning. LinuxPbE takes this philosophy and walks you through actual example code from various Unixes and Linux. The first part of the book, specifically chapters one through six, covers all of the aspects of Linux programming necessary to understand the Unix V7 ls program in its full glory in chapter seven. I feel that this approach works very well.
Part two dives into processes, walking us through creating them, managing them, communicating with them by using pipes and sending them signals. A few other general topics are included for completeness. Part three then covers the art and tools of debugging in fairly substantial detail.
All the code in the book is very well laid out, with line numbers provided to the left, and comments (in a small sans-serif font) on the right-hand side of the code. This is a very readable combination that is enhanced further by the fact that at each logical division, an explanation is given of the design and implementation used by that section.
I can't resist admiring the addition of the essay "Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years" by Peter Norvig. This is a classic exploration of the effort needed to attain mastery of any skill, concluding that the minimum length of time required is ten years. The inclusion of this article, to me, speaks well of the author and his understanding of the learning process. One can only hope that those learning from this book will come to the same understanding and realise that the book is the start of their journey to mastering Linux programming.
What's To ConsiderNothing notable.
Summary If you want to learn how to do this stuff for real, then this book will get you started. As "Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years" explains, no book is going to cause you to become an expert in 24 hours, 24 days or even, perhaps, 24 months. That said, this book will be useful for many of those ten years, so run or surf to your favourite bookstore and purchase it now.You can purchase Linux Programming by Example from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
The common meta build tools can be a nightmare to learn all at once.
While these are not essential to the beginning developer, having a chapter which covers the background, the problem, the solution and the practice of each of these "meta" tools would be really useful to get new developers going. They don't have to be covered in detail, but really honestly understanding WHY a project might be using a given meta build tool can help more people get involved.
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Do you think this is linked to the state of the industry? I mean, does anyone have enough time to truly *master* a language anymore? Using the analogue of a master craftsman e.g. a cabinet maker, they would spend all their life working with tools which only very very very rarely change.
In the 4 years I've been programming *properly, I've used Delphi, Java, C, C++ , Qt and SQL. I am nowhere near knowing all there is to know about any of them. I'm sort of worried that I'll never really be able to _master_ a language...
*at university,on placement and varying from trivial to decidedly non-trivial...