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Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours
Spencerian writes "The surge of Unix-derived operating systems such as Mac OS X, Linux, and the now-free Solaris is not slowing against the fortified but embattled breakwaters of the Microsoft operating system family. But new power users of other operating systems, including those just starting with Unix as well as the graphical interface of the operating system (such as the Mac OS Finder, or the navigators of KDE or Gnome), remain in need of a comprehensive primer for Unix that complements their previous knowledge. The fourth edition of Dave Taylor's "Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours" should remain on the top of the buy list for computer users in need of a strong Unix reference where they may find themselves managing or using the subtle variants of Unix flavors." Read the rest of Spencerians' review.
Sams Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours, 4th Edition
author
Dave Taylor
pages
518
publisher
Sams Publishing
rating
7.5 of 10
reviewer
Kevin H Spencer
ISBN
0-672-32814-3
summary
The fourth edition of Dave Taylor's "Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours" should remain on the top of the buy list for computer users in need of a strong Unix reference where they may find themselves managing or using the subtle variants of Unix flavors.
The format of this Sams book, as with other books in this "Teach Yourself...In 24 Hours" series has not changed. The book content does favor Windows or Macintosh users when describing, comparisons and contrasts of Unix tasks to those popular operating systems. Unless the reader has been a fan of very little-used operating systems in their past and somehow managed to avoid Mac OS, Windows or Linux, absorption of what is needed for each chapter shouldn't be difficult.
Each chapter is technically noted as a one-hour lesson, although the author acknowledges that many may need more than one hour to absorb some material and should take as much time as they need to understand what they need to know. Chapters include the Unix basics such as using text editors such as vi, moving and copying files, viewing file contents and locating files in the operating system, and topics scale upward to advanced shell programming and even Perl programming. Generally, most readers need not read from beginning to end, chapter to chapter. Despite the lesson-like mode of the book, "Teach Yourself Unix" is a reference.
The "Teach Yourself" books are not advanced reference books, however, and "Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours" is no exception. As someone that's used more and more Unix commands in the background of Mac OS X to make things easier or to circumvent limitations or flaws of the Mac OS X Finder, the previous editions of "Teach Yourself Unix" were handy references when I needed a quick and certain process to accomplish a task. Sometimes it's too easy for graphical interface users to moan and while when the Windows Explorer or Mac OS X desktops stick and slows to a crawl when managing something as simple as copying a file, forgetting that there is another way. This book contains the basics to manage these tasks without being too basic of a reference.
The author's breadth of knowledge in many Unix-derived systems such as BSD, Solaris, and Linux continue to extend themselves well in the lessons. Each chapter contains explanations and examples to aid those that need more information. Most Slashdot readers might find this level of detail a bit plodding, but some newbies to Unix may need this since Unix is not inherently a graphical operating system that's easy to understand by sight, so things need to be literally spelled out. Peppered throughout the book are sidenotes that keep the reader apprised of exceptions or proper etiquette when handling, discussing or pronouncing Unix tasks and terminology.
There's a marginally useful amount of back matter on the book, consisting of two appendices, one on frequently-asked Unix questions, and another more useful appendix on managing the Apache web server from a command line. The back cover has a simple command-line reference that's not bad, however, being Unix, the amount of commands and versatility seem a bit limited, so the command-line reference lacks a bit of punch. Some chapters seem a bit archaic and probably need to be reconsidered in a future edition--very few of us may have a need to send mail from the command line in this age of Yahoo Mail and the sheer number of mail services available on computers in schools, businesses, homes, and even from cell phones for jotting off a quick note to a comrade for quick answers. Full-time conversing by mail in Unix isn't something I feel anyone but the most hardcore Unix user will relish--and those users aren't the audience of this book.
This book is designed for new Unix users, but intermediate users will find "Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours" a handy reference when having to workaround GUI pitfalls or failures. This book's previous versions have saved my bacon in reinforcing my previous experience and skills at the command line when the Mac OS Finder seizes, leaving no graphical way to complete a task. Unfortunately, given the volume of information I must remember in using both Mac OS X and Windows XP, I, for one, can't remember every nuance of Unix needed, particularly since it's not as easily remembered as icons or menus. Perhaps the author may find that a fifth edition will need information on the long-awaited Windows Vista in the event it contains Unix parts and pieces."
You can purchase Sams Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours 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 format of this Sams book, as with other books in this "Teach Yourself...In 24 Hours" series has not changed. The book content does favor Windows or Macintosh users when describing, comparisons and contrasts of Unix tasks to those popular operating systems. Unless the reader has been a fan of very little-used operating systems in their past and somehow managed to avoid Mac OS, Windows or Linux, absorption of what is needed for each chapter shouldn't be difficult.
Each chapter is technically noted as a one-hour lesson, although the author acknowledges that many may need more than one hour to absorb some material and should take as much time as they need to understand what they need to know. Chapters include the Unix basics such as using text editors such as vi, moving and copying files, viewing file contents and locating files in the operating system, and topics scale upward to advanced shell programming and even Perl programming. Generally, most readers need not read from beginning to end, chapter to chapter. Despite the lesson-like mode of the book, "Teach Yourself Unix" is a reference.
The "Teach Yourself" books are not advanced reference books, however, and "Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours" is no exception. As someone that's used more and more Unix commands in the background of Mac OS X to make things easier or to circumvent limitations or flaws of the Mac OS X Finder, the previous editions of "Teach Yourself Unix" were handy references when I needed a quick and certain process to accomplish a task. Sometimes it's too easy for graphical interface users to moan and while when the Windows Explorer or Mac OS X desktops stick and slows to a crawl when managing something as simple as copying a file, forgetting that there is another way. This book contains the basics to manage these tasks without being too basic of a reference.
The author's breadth of knowledge in many Unix-derived systems such as BSD, Solaris, and Linux continue to extend themselves well in the lessons. Each chapter contains explanations and examples to aid those that need more information. Most Slashdot readers might find this level of detail a bit plodding, but some newbies to Unix may need this since Unix is not inherently a graphical operating system that's easy to understand by sight, so things need to be literally spelled out. Peppered throughout the book are sidenotes that keep the reader apprised of exceptions or proper etiquette when handling, discussing or pronouncing Unix tasks and terminology.
There's a marginally useful amount of back matter on the book, consisting of two appendices, one on frequently-asked Unix questions, and another more useful appendix on managing the Apache web server from a command line. The back cover has a simple command-line reference that's not bad, however, being Unix, the amount of commands and versatility seem a bit limited, so the command-line reference lacks a bit of punch. Some chapters seem a bit archaic and probably need to be reconsidered in a future edition--very few of us may have a need to send mail from the command line in this age of Yahoo Mail and the sheer number of mail services available on computers in schools, businesses, homes, and even from cell phones for jotting off a quick note to a comrade for quick answers. Full-time conversing by mail in Unix isn't something I feel anyone but the most hardcore Unix user will relish--and those users aren't the audience of this book.
This book is designed for new Unix users, but intermediate users will find "Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours" a handy reference when having to workaround GUI pitfalls or failures. This book's previous versions have saved my bacon in reinforcing my previous experience and skills at the command line when the Mac OS Finder seizes, leaving no graphical way to complete a task. Unfortunately, given the volume of information I must remember in using both Mac OS X and Windows XP, I, for one, can't remember every nuance of Unix needed, particularly since it's not as easily remembered as icons or menus. Perhaps the author may find that a fifth edition will need information on the long-awaited Windows Vista in the event it contains Unix parts and pieces."
You can purchase Sams Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Sounds like a good start, but know that it'll only be a base to build on. As someone that has used Linux/*BSD/Unix for over 10 years, it's something that will provide a lifetime of learning. The challenge is what I love about it; think about it this way if you want to start with a book like this.
fak3r.com
...if you can. There's no substitute.
Autonomous Retard -- Is your camp safe? UnsafeCamp.com
"I hate Unix because it made me type man mount"
if this wasnt a joke: post something non AC so i can find and shoot you. if it was: not funny. go get shot somewhere.
It's on my bookshelf next to Nuclear Powerplant Management for Dummies and Learn to Navigate Alaskan Bound Oil Tankers in 24 Hours. I hate these cheat your way to understanding book titles.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Just kidding :P
If you really want to understand unix you shouldn't get this book
Some time ago I found an old text book for sysadmins written in 94.
It skipped all that about guis and actually explained how to manage the OS via commandline.
I had been using gnome for some time, but after reading that book I finally understood what all those scary commands meant when I configured my wifi card.
% man man
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
I've found that the best way is to solve some particular problem. Example: add these four new disks from the JBOD enclosure to your linux system. This teaches about the physical device drivers, device files, volume mgmt, filesystem mgmt, and mounting them upon boot (which touches many important aspects of UNIX).
Working with someone else who can help point you in the right direction and solving a problem by yourself is much much better than a book.
The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us. -- Calvin & Hobbes
When people talk about books titled "ten yourself something in NN hours/days" it always reminds me about this webpage.
And in fact that's the truth - you can't learn that something in few days. Progamming? unix administration? sailing? playing chess? Man... that takes years to master.
#
#\ @ ? Colonize Mars
#
It's easy to see why you got modded down -1 flamebait. You need to get the facts straight. A recent study shows the average IQ of the following groups:
Stupid gits: 56
Blithering morons: 48
Bumbling fools: 44.3
Fucking Idiots: 37
Bleeding halfwits: 29.1
Fucking Imbeciles: 26
You have to get to the level of inanimate objects or at the very least slow-moving vegetables as a basis for comparison with Dumbya before you can completely abolish all concerns for counterattacks.
...if it described how to configure your WiFi card in 1994!
Was it called "Configuring Not-Yet-Invented Hardware for Dummies" ?
I find all these "$THING for $PEOPLE" and "$THING in $QUANTITY of time" books insulting.
/usr/bin ; sudo rm -rf *" in 20 minutes. Can you learn to develop and debug shell scripts in 24 hours? I think not.
Sure you can learn how to type "cd
Nor do I think people can learn C or C++ or Java in 24 hours. It's just insulting. Now I know they don't literally mean one day, but even college classes run longer than 24 hours. In college you'll have a 50-60 hour class on "intro to C" followed by FIVE MORE SEMESTERS of classes that build on it.
I hate these books because they're retarded. I learned C primarily from "type and learn C" [I think by Sams] when I was 12. Then I proceeded to actually write programs [lots of them, 1000s of them]. I learned by doing and it took a long time. I wasn't half-way decent at "coding" until I was 19 and I'm just getting solid at proper development [well I'd say the last year has been really smooth].
For all of us who do take it serious and have been through a lot of training I find these books insulting. And no, it isn't because I sunk a boatload of cash into the courses like a MCSE. I think people are quite capable of teaching themselves how to use UNIX shells or C programming. I just don't think it's the sort of thing you can do over a weekend or two.
So fuck off already with the books that serve no purpose but to flood the market with a lot of "smart" people who turn out to be useless as the day is long.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
24 Unix!
It would be modeled after the hit American TV series with Mr. Sutherland in it. He'd have just 24 hours to learn Unix, or a bomb goes off yadda yadda. Each hour of the show would show him at the command line, or trying to get X Windows running, and about hour 15 someone should show him a Linux Live CD and nearly save the day.
It could be shot under the BSD license, and run on either a Mac or Intel processor, depending on what they'd think would get better ratings.
Any TV producers out there want to buy the rights to my idea?
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
The Hopeless Moron's Guide To
The Shallow Unteachable Twit's Manual For
Become Dangerous With Too Little Knowledge Of In 24 Hours
For The Brainless
For Assholes
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
man mount && touch tail more && more; finger assets |grep && fsck; locate cat && tar; whereis find mysqldump..... chpwned.
i need to get out more...well.. on second thought, ill do society a favor.
But he's way behind on speed. The current record holder is "Teach Yourself UNIX in 10 minutes".
You may also need "Advanced Speed Typing" and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment.
The problem is that many people who first start out with the command line seem to view it as more of them having to simply type in obscure commands to correspond to the same steps they would take were they using a GUI. I've seen many people type: instead of simply typing mv ~/foo/foo.txt ~/bar.txt Of course this is a simple example, but I think that it illustrates my point that people are often locked into the GUI mindset. As such, even if they understand in the abstrace the use of piping and output redirection, etc, the difficulty is in understanding how to use those tools efficiently.
Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
I'm afraid I can't pull any punches on this one: any "teach yourself X in 24 hours" book is snake oil to get your money. It's there to take advantage of people with the wrong attitude - Unix (and most of IT along with it) evolves so continuously, it practically re-invents itself every five years (through BSD, Linux, Solaris, etc). Get it in your head that it's a "learn-it-once" thing and you end up ten years later still able to babble Apple 2 Basic and remembering that SIMM = "single inline memory module" and DIMM = "dual inline memory module", but having to scurry back to the docs every time you edit your Python script.
you could have mentioned you were psychic beforehand :(
I don't even want to think what Unix would have been like if it had been created by Finns or Hawaiians.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
... whatever that means, is this. I need a high-level description of how Unix works. I have a reasonable handle on how Windows works (at least on a conceptual basis), so if I run into a problem or would like to get something done, I have an idea the kind of tools I need.
I've only played with HP-UX and a couple of Linux flavors - and not long or thorough enough to know what's going on under the hood.
Some examples:
How does **nix boot? How does it interact with hardware? Is there a general hint to what all the directories are about or any memory aids for knowing what's in them? Permissions - any chance of an overview of what the bits mean, why they might be used and how they're actually used?
The books I've seem go right from a brief history of Unix to either installing it or talking about commands. I've got no problem learning the "how", but I really need to know the "why" before I will spend the valuable time re-learning my way around an OS. Until then, I'll be sticking with Windows.
Does anyone know any books that address the "how it all works together" part? I'll be happy to read man pages and cryptic HOWTOs once I know why I'm doing it.
Conversation between me and friend:
Me: What else should I put on my resume?
Friend: Can you use grep?
Me: Yeah kind of
Friend: Bam! Instant Unix admin!
EvilCON - Made Famous by
What is not mentioned in the review of the book, but that you joke about, is the importance of high quality and relevant documentation. Many people today just don't read documentation (be it man pages or not), but perhaps that is the result of shoddy documentation practices on some non *BSD platforms. All to often I see someone post about a "problem" that reading the man pages, the FAQ or a few minutes of Googling will solve.
...is free on the Net. Introduction to Linux: A Hands-On Guide at the Linux Documentation Project. Print the PDF, save a trip to the bookstore. Doesn't assume (much) prior knowledge, yet omits all the trivial "Here's how to burn a CD in K3B" nonsense.
Penny - plain text accounting
You need a book such as "The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Operating System". I believe there is a more recent edition which focuses on FreeBSD. There are many other books out there, too, focusing on the internals of systems like Linux, Solaris and OpenServer.
They explain how each portion of the system works, in addition to how they work together. And then they explain exactly why.
You should be able to find such books at a university bookstore.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Most of the replies to this article go something like "You can't learn anything in 24 hours" or "If you use this book you shouldn't use Unix". The first type of reply is valid, but this review points out in several places that this book is useful as a reference guide, not just as a lesson-based learning method. And "Learn $THING$ in $TIME$" is a whole lot catchier and more profitable than "Figure It Out Yourself". Everybody needs to start somewhere, and for some folks, getting a book that will get them to do something meaningful at a command line is a GREAT start! As for the people who post the second type of comment: Get back under your bridge, troll. Seriously, not everybody here at slashdot has been programming C for a decade and uses lynx to surf. I'm sure a lot of people will find this book useful to them, just as "Learn Personal Hygiene in 24 Hours" would be useful to you.
But the integration isn't there yet. Solaris works very well with Sun hardware. You don't run into hardware conflicts, or driver issues. It just works. And for somebody new to UNIX, having a system that works well right off is a blessing.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
'Type and Learn C' (iirc, by Tom Swan) was a really good book, it helped me a lot too when I was initially exploring the language. That and the online help in Borland's Turbo C++, which imho was highly impressive. OTOH, I also bought 'Type and Learn C++', but that was quite a disappointment - the entire book was an ongoing exercise in making an editor, so I couldn't jump from chapter to chapter as I wished, and due to several other things didn't get utilized remotely as much as the C book.
I do like the '24 hours' books in some cases when I want a quick intro to a topic, but 'Learn' is probably too strong a word - its more like 'Get Acquainted With', which is what I use them for.
I bought the third edition in January 2004 when I started a new job with a Unix/Linux company. I found it very easy to get up to speed quickly, which is a testament to the quality of the book as my previous *nix experience was measured in minutes. I particularly appreciated the way it compared and contrasted *nix with Windows as that's my background. It won't teach you everything but it covers the basics and will get you working pretty well straight away. As noted above to become really effective you should get help from someone with a lot more experience, but this book will introduce most *nix concepts.
"I'd like to think oysters transcend national barriers Adrian"
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
That'll teach you not to mess with Unix in 24 hours.
"Show me your tables and I won't usually need your flow charts; they'll be obvious".
From "Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years"
...
"I did the following power search at Amazon.com:
pubdate: after 1992 and title: days and
(title: learn or title: teach yourself)
The conclusion is that either people are in a big rush to learn about computers, or that computers are somehow fabulously easier to learn than anything else. There are no books on how to learn Beethoven, or Quantum Physics, or even Dog Grooming in a few days."