Unix for the Impatient

by Paul W. Abrahams, Bruce R. Larson

Thoroughly updated to account for recent developments, the Second Edition of UNIX for the Impatient is an in-depth, comprehensive guide to UNIX - a handbook you can use both for learning and as a ready reference. Clear, concise, and readable, the book is written for the technically oriented UNIX user who doesn't want to wade through verbose tutorials, but isn't already an expert. Its functional organization makes it easy to find the right tool for any task, with a complete alphabetical summary providing fast lookup of commands, options, and subcommands. An extensive discussion of underlying UNIX concepts, supplemented by a glossary, enables even a UNIX beginner to penetrate the mysteries of UNIX terminology.
The Second Edition is based on the IEEE POSIX.2 Standard now widely adopted by UNIX vendors and implementors. Descriptions of commands and facilities have been extensively revised to conform to the POSIX specifications and extended to cover the entire set of POSIX.2 user utilities. As before, important System V, BSD, and GNU variations and enhancements are also presented.

Genres: Computer Science, Programming, Technology, Nonfiction

824 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 5 star review is probably way over inflated since this book has a very special place in my past. The book is mostly just hard copy man pages with a smattering of advice. This book caught my eye before I knew "what to look for", and I managed to read the entire book in a single cramming session for a job interview the night before. I got the job, and learned a lot about UNIX at the same time. I don't think that would be the best use of your time if you were in the same situation.

[Qubitng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Used this nearly 2 decades ago to get up to speed with Unix scripting. At the time there were hardly anything like this at all; definitely the alternatives such as the man pages were not ideal for learning. But it was a great place to get started. But once you find your bearings, the man pages were an easier read than the book.

Although this book is a bit dense, back then I did not hesitate in recommending this book because it was unique. I definitely would have rated it a 4 or 4.5. But today, with the variety of tutorials available, this would be a 3.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive work on the subject, but like most Unix programmers, it is a bit dense (data per volume, not vapidity per brain cell) and not very user friendly, particularly for someone coming from a Windows background like me, who likes to have their hand held.

[Timothy Culp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick intro and helped me land my first job working in Unix.