Advanced Programming in the UNIX(R) Environment (2nd Edition)...

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 960 pages
• Published by: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Edition: 2nd Edition June 27, 2005
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0201433079
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0201433074
• Book Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 2.5 inches
• Weighs: 4.6 pounds

Back Cover Copy


"Stephen Rago's update is a long overdue benefit to the community of professionals using the versatile family of UNIX and UNIX-like operating environments. It removes obsolescence and includes newer developments. It also thoroughly updates the context of all topics, examples, and applications to recent releases of popular implementations of UNIX and UNIX-like environments. And yet, it does all this while retaining the style and taste of the original classic."

--Mukesh Kacker, cofounder and former CTO of Pronto Networks, Inc.

"One of the essential classics of UNIX programming."

--Eric S. Raymond, author of The Art of UNIX Programming

"This is the definitive reference book for any serious or professional UNIX systems programmer. Rago has updated and extended the classic Stevens text while keeping true to the original. The APIs are illuminated by clear examples of their use. He also mentions many of the pitfalls to look out for when programming across different UNIX system implementations and points out how to avoid these pitfalls using relevant standards such as POSIX 1003.1, 2004 edition and the Single UNIX Specification, Version 3."

--Andrew Josey, Director, Certification, The Open Group, and Chair of the POSIX 1003.1 Working Group

"Advanced Programming in the UNIX® Environment, Second Edition, is an essential reference for anyone writing programs for a UNIX system. It's the first book I turn to when I want to understand or re-learn any of the various system interfaces. Stephen Rago has successfully revised this book to incorporate newer operating systems such as GNU/Linux and Apple's OS X while keeping true to the first edition in terms of both readability and usefulness. It will always have a place right next to my computer."

--Dr. Benjamin Kuperman, Swarthmore College

Praise for the First Edition

"Advanced Programming in the UNIX® Environment is a must-have for any serious C programmer who works under UNIX. Its depth, thoroughness, and clarity of explana-tion are unmatched."

--UniForum Monthly

"Numerous readers recommended Advanced Programming in the UNIX® Environment by W. Richard Stevens (Addison-Wesley), and I'm glad they did; I hadn't even heard of this book, and it's been out since 1992. I just got my hands on a copy, and the first few chapters have been fascinating."

--Open Systems Today

"A much more readable and detailed treatment of UNIX internals can be found in Advanced Programming in the UNIX® Environment by W. Richard Stevens (Addison-Wesley). This book includes lots of realistic examples, and I find it quite helpful when I have systems programming tasks to do."

--RS/Magazine

"This is the definitive reference book for any serious or professional UNIX systems programmer. Rago has updated and extended the original Stevens classic while keeping true to the original."

--Andrew Josey, Director, Certification, The Open Group, and Chair of the POSIX 1003.1 Working Group

For over a decade, serious C programmers have relied on one book for practical, in-depth knowledge of the programming interfaces that drive the UNIX and Linux kernels: W. Richard Stevens' Advanced Programming in the UNIX® Environment. Now, Stevens' colleague Stephen Rago has thoroughly updated this classic to reflect the latest technical advances and add support for today's leading UNIX and Linux platforms.

Rago carefully retains the spirit and approach that made this book a classic. Building on Stevens' work, he begins with basic topics such as files, directories, and processes, carefully laying the groundwork for understanding more advanced techniques, such as signal handling and terminal I/O.

Substantial new material includes chapters on threads and multithreaded programming, using the socket interface to drive interprocess communication (IPC), and extensive coverage of the interfaces added to the latest version of the POSIX.1 standard. Nearly all examples have been tested on four of today's most widely used UNIX/Linux platforms: FreeBSD 5.2.1; the Linux 2.4.22 kernel; Solaris 9; and Darwin 7.4.0, the FreeBSD/Mach hybrid underlying Apple's Mac OS X 10.3.

As in the first edition, you'll learn through example, including more than 10,000 lines of downloadable, ANSI C source code. More than 400 system calls and functions are demonstrated with concise, complete programs that clearly illustrate their usage, arguments, and return values. To tie together what you've learned, the book presents several chapter-length case studies, each fully updated for contemporary environments.

Advanced Programming in the UNIX® Environment has helped a generation of programmers write code with exceptional power, performance, and reliability. Now updated for today's UNIX/Linux systems, this second edition will be even more indispensable.



About The Author


We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of noted author W. Richard Stevens. His passing is obviously a awesome loss for the technical community, but it is a personal one for us as well. Rich was both a gifted colleague and a valued friend who will be greatly missed. We extend our sympathies to his family.

Obituary from the Arizona Daily Star:

STEVENS, W. Richard, noted author of computer books died on September 1. He is best known for his "UNIX Network Programming" series (1990, 1998, 1999), "Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment" (1992), and "TCP/IP Illustrated" series (1994, 1995, 1996). Richard was born in 1951 in Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), where his father worked for the copper industry. The family moved to Salt Lake City, Hurley, New Mexico, Washington, DC and Phalaborwa, South Africa. Richard attended Fishburne Military School in Waynesboro, Virginia. He received a B.SC. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1973, and an M.S. (1978) and Ph.D. (1982) in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona. He moved to Tucson in 1975 and from then until 1982 he was employed at Kitt Peak National Observatory as a computer programmer. From 1982 until 1990 he was Vice President of Computing Services at Health Systems International in New Haven, CT, moving back to Tucson in 1990. Here he pursued his career as an author and consultant. He was also an avid pilot and a part-time flight instructor during the 1970's.

He is survived by his loving wife of twenty years, Sally Hodges Stevens; three wonderful children, Bill, Ellen and David; sister, Claire Stevens of Las Vegas, NV; brother, Bob and wife Linda Stevens of Dallas, TX; nieces, Laura, Sarah, Collette, Christy; and nephew, Brad. He is predeceased by his parents, Royale J. Stevens (1915-1984); and Helen Patterson Stevens (1916-1997). Helen lived in Tucson from 1991-1997, and Royale lived here in the early 1930's attending Tucson High School while his father was treated for TB at the Desert Sanitorium (now TMC). The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Richard's name to Habitat for Humanity, 2950 E. 22nd Street, Tucson, AZ 85713. A memorial service for Richard will be held at St. Phillip's in the Hills Episcopal Church on Tuesday, September 7th at 12:00 noon. Following the service there will be a reception in the Murphy Gallery of the Church. Please wear colorful clothing to the service; Richard loved colors.

W. Richard Stevens was an acknowledged UNIX and networking expert and the highly-respected author of several books. He was also a sought-after instructor and consultant.

Stephen A. Rago, one of the Bell Laboratories developers who built UNIX System V, Release 4, currently works as a manger at EMC, specializing in file servers and file systems.



Reader Reviews
This review is from: Advanced Programming in the UNIX(R) Environment (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series) (Hardcover) The computer industry is notable for the huge quantity of really bad books it engenders. This, however, is not one of those books - this is a great book. Before explaining why it is great, I'd like to get the table of contents out of the way, so that you will know what it covers: Preface 1. Introduction (a "whirlwind tour of Unix") 2. Unix Standardization and Implementations 3. File I/O 4. Files and Directories 5. Standard I/O Library 6. System Data Files and Information 7. The Environment of a Unix Process 8. Process Control 9. Process Relationships 10. Signals 11. Terminal I/O 12. Advanced I/O 13. Daemon Processes 14. Interprocess Communication 15. Advanced Interprocess Communication 16. A Database Library 17. Communicating with a PostScript Printer 18. A Modem Dialer 19. Pseudo Terminals Appendices A. Function Prototypes B. Miscellaneous Source Code (all source code is available for download) C. Solutions to Selected Exercises Bibliography Index The first thing to understand about the book is that while it can be used as just a reference work (the index is wonderful), it really is a book you can and should read. Even if you think you know a lot of this stuff, you can be surprised at what you can still learn. What makes the book so much more useful than just a collection of man-page print-outs (that dreary and painfully common form of UNIX "book") is the method of presentation. Stevens' basic atom of organization is the function call. For each call (or minor variations on a single call), he provides the C prototype, and then, in text, explains what the function does, what it's arguments are for, and then typically provides a small C program that demonstrates it in action, which he then explains. These function-level building blocks are arranged into related sets, each of which is a chapter in the book. Each chapter has a wrapper that consists of an introduction explaining some basic concepts and history of the functions described in that chapter, and some review exercises at the end. The chapters themselves are arranged so that the earlier chapters describe the basic functions, and the later chapters describe the more difficult functions. Every chapter both teaches the reader something of immediate use in writing code (even the introduction has sample programs), as well as preparing him for the more difficult subjects that lie ahead. Now for the caveats. Stevens absolutely assumes that you know how to program in C and that you know how to use Unix development tools (or at least that you have some other source from which to learn them). This is not the book to learn how to use C or particular shells, editors, compilers, linkers, or debuggers. Similarly, new Unix variants, such as Linux and MacOS X, receive no specific mention here at all (though the book is invaluable for both). Also, there is no discussion of the various GUI interfaces offered on many current Unix systems - for those, some other book will necessary. One other thing worth mentioning is the cost of the book. Don't be put off by it - Stevens' book has been justifying that cost for a lot of readers for a lot of years. In closing, I've been a developer for many years and have owned many computer books. I recommend very few of them, but can't recommend this one highly enough. It is one of the few books I've had that routinely lies open beside me when I work. In addition to my personal recommendation, you might look not only at all the positive reviews for this book, but also at the reviews for "competitive" books and notice how often they refer you back to this one. This book is the standard by which other UNIX programming books are measured, and so far, it has not been surpassed. Comment | | (Report this)