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UNIX in a Nutshell by Arnold Robbins — book cover
Operating Systems

UNIX in a Nutshell

by Arnold Robbins, Mike Loukides (Editor), Colleen Gorman
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Overview

As an open operating system, Unix can be improved on by anyone and everyone: individuals, companies, universities, and more. As a result, the very nature of Unix has been altered over the years by numerous extensions formulated in an assortment of versions. Today, Unix encompasses everything from Sun's Solaris to Apple's Mac OS X and more varieties of Linux than you can easily name.

The latest edition of this bestselling reference brings Unix into the 21st century. It's been reworked to keep current with the broader state of Unix in today's world and highlight the strengths of this operating system in all its various flavors.

Detailing all Unix commands and options, the informative guide provides generous descriptions and examples that put those commands in context. Here are some of the new features you'll find in Unix in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition:

  • Solaris 10, the latest version of the SVR4-based operating system, GNU/Linux, and Mac OS X
  • Bash shell (along with the 1988 and 1993 versions of ksh)
  • tsch shell (instead of the original Berkeley csh)
  • Package management programs, used for program installation on popular GNU/Linux systems, Solaris and Mac OS X
  • GNU Emacs Version 21
  • Introduction to source code management systems
  • Concurrent versions system
  • Subversion version control system
  • GDB debugger

As Unix has progressed, certain commands that were once critical have fallen into disuse. To that end, the book has also dropped material that is no longer relevant, keeping it taut and current.

If you're a Unix user or programmer, you'll recognize the value of this complete, up-to-date Unix reference. With chapter overviews, specific examples, and detailed command.

The latest edition of this bestselling reference brings UNIX into the 21st century. It's been reworked to keep current with the broader state of UNIX in today's world and to highlight the strengths of this operating system in all its various flavors.

Synopsis

The latest edition of this bestselling reference brings UNIX into the 21st century. It's been reworked to keep current with the broader state of UNIX in today's world and to highlight the strengths of this operating system in all its various flavors.

About the Author, Arnold Robbins

Arnold Robbins, an Atlanta native, is a professional programmer and technical author. He has worked with Unix systems since 1980, when he was introduced to a PDP-11 running a version of Sixth Edition Unix. He has been a heavy AWK user since 1987, when he became involved with gawk, the GNU project's version of AWK. As a member of the POSIX 1003.2 balloting group, he helped shape the POSIX standard for AWK. He is currently the maintainer of gawk and its documentation. He is also coauthor of the sixth edition of O'Reilly's Learning the vi Editor. Since late 1997, he and his family have been living happily in Israel.

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
Ever UNIX user and programmer needs a rock-solid day-to-day reference. For years, thousands of UNIX users have relied on UNIX in a Nutshell. Now this book has been massively updated for today’s new generation of “UNIX-es,” from GNU/Linux to Mac OS X and Solaris 10. The new Fourth Edition is an outstanding single source for all you need to know now about UNIX commands, shells, editing tools, software development utilities, and a whole lot more.

Users will wear out Arnold Robbins’s huge commands section, which has been systematically revised and reorganized. Commands common to most versions of UNIX and Linux are covered first: meat-and-potatoes stuff like autoconf, cat, chmod, cp, find, finger, ftp, make, mount, ssh, tar, and so forth. All version-specific options for each command are listed with their own subheads, for fast and convenient access. Once every significant common command has been reviewed, dozens of commands unique to individual platforms are covered. For instance: cdrecord and strace for Linux; ditto and nano for OS X; encrypt and filesync for Solaris.

Robbins’s extensive coverage of UNIX shells has been reworked to cover bash, the 1993 (and 1988) versions of ksh, and tcsh instead of the original Berkeley csh. There’s an entire new chapter on package management. Robbins has thoroughly revised his coverage of editors, adding key vim commands and updating the GNU Emacs discussion through Version 21. Perhaps the most significant addition: extensive new coverage of source code management, including chapters on CVS and the newer Subversion Version Control System (SVCS). Robbins’s goal: to present “UNIX for the 21st century.” Users and programmers will agree that he’s succeeded. Bill Camarda, from the December 2005 Read Only

Book Details

Published
October 1, 2005
Publisher
O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Pages
908
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780596100292

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