From: kzhan@sgi1 (Kaijun Zhan) From: kko@fraser.sfu.ca (Samuel Ko) Newsgroups: misc.books.technical,alt.books.technical,comp.unix.questions,comp.un ix.wizards,news.answers Subject: [misc.books.technical] A Concise Guide to Unix Books Summary: A list of recommended Unix books and documentations ... Keywords: Unix, books, documentations Date: 21 Nov 92 04:08:17 GMT Followup-To: misc.books.technical Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada Lines: 755 Archive-name: books/unix Last-modified: Nov 20 1992 Version 1.6 ------------------------------------------------------------ [misc.books.technical] A Concise Guide to Unix Books ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Compiled by: Samuel Ko (kko@sfu.ca) ** This is a good selection of the "best" Unix books / documentations. The slection is based on i) recommendations from netnews readers, ii) the US/Canada sales figures, and iii) a bit of my own preference. ** Subject areas covered: A. General Unix Texts B. Shells C. Unix Editors D. Networking and Communications E. System Administration F. Unix Security G. Programming H. TeX I. X Window System J. Dictionary K. Other Lists ** This guide is intended to be concise, so it is far from exhaustive. For other Unix bibliographies, please read section K - Other Lists. ** THANKS to all who have helped in improving this guide. However, to save some bandwidth, I do not want to include a long list of acknowledgment. I do sincerely thank each and every one of you who has contributed to this compilation in one way or the other. [[ BTW, from your responses since this list was first posted ... The best publisher: O'Reilly & Associates The most-recommended books: Unix Network Programming by Richard Stevens Unix System Administration Handbook by Nemeth, Snyder and Seebass The Whole Internet - User's Guide & Catalog by Ed Krol ]] ** If you think there are some other really good Unix books, please let me know. Besides any comments, suggestions and flames will be very much appreciated. ** I will try to update and post this list at least once a month. The latest version is also obtainable by anonymous ftp from pit-manager.mit.edu (in /pub/usenet/news.answers/books). If you do not have ftp or netnews access you can get it by email from mail-server@pit-manager.mit.edu and the body of your request should be send usenet/news.answers/books/unix . ** I am now preparing this list in other formats. More info in next issue. ** Here it goes ... A. General Unix Texts ************************* 1. Title: Unix for the Impatient Authors: Paul Abrahams and Bruce Larson Publisher: Addison Wesley Edition: 1992 ISBN: 0-201-55703-7 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** A new, comprehensive, in-depth reference to Unix ... "a handbook you can use both as a manual to learn UNIX and as a ready reference for fast answers to specific UNIX questions." 2. Title: The Unix Operating System Author: Kaare Christian Publisher: Wiley Edition: 2nd ed. 1988 ISBN: 0-471-84781-X Comment: A classic overview of Unix commands ... Good in coverage ... 3. Title: A Practical Guide to the Unix System Author: Mark Sobell Publisher: Benjamin / Cummings Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-80-530243-3 Comment: Similar to Christian's book ... Slightly easier to read ... There is a new edition for System V Release 4 ... 4. Title: The Waite Group's Unix System V Primer Authors: Mitchell Waite, Donald Martin and Stephen Prata Publisher: Sams Edition: 2nd ed. 1992 ISBN: 0-672-30194-6 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** A very good hand-holding tutorial-type book for Unix/SVR4 ... 5. Title: Mastering SunOS Authors: Brent Heslop and David Angell Publisher: Sybex Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-89588-683 Comment: A good, comprehensive hand-on text to SunOS and OpenWindows ... 6. Title: Peter Norton's Guide to Unix Authors: Peter Norton and Harley Hahn Publisher: Bantam Computer Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-553-35260-1 Comment: Good coverage ... A good introduction for beginners (especially those accustomed to DOS) ... 7. Title: Unix System V Release 4: An Introduction Authors: Kenneth Rosen, Richard Rosinski and James Farber Publisher: McGraw Hill Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-07-881552-5 Comment: A very comprehensive text targeted to novice users ... 8. Title: Unix System V Release 4 - The Complete Reference Author: Stephen Coffin Publisher: McGraw Hall Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-07-881653-X Comment: Another good book on Unix fundamentals and related subjects ... 9. Title: Unix in a Nutshell Authors: Daniel Gilly and O'Reilly staff Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 2nd ed. 1992 (for System V and Solaris 2) ISBN: 1-56592-001-5 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** An excellent desktop reference to almost all Unix commands ... "a complete reference containing all commands and options, plus generous descriptions and examples that put the commands in context." ... Also an edition for 4.3. BSD ... 10. Title: Life with Unix - A Guide for Everyone Authors: Don Libes and Sandy Ressler Publisher: Prentice Hall Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-13-536657-7 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** An everything-you-want-to-know-about-Unix book ... It includes info you might not find elsewhere ... "This book is the "other" book about Unix ... a study in reading between the lines - which is very much what learning UNIX is like." ... 11. Title: Learning Unix Author: James Gardner Publisher: Sams Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-672-30001-X Comment: With disks containing MSDOS simulation of Unix (MKS Tools) ... A good tutorial / reference book for those without constant access to Unix ... 12. Title: Unix Desktop Guide to Tools Author: Pete Holsberg Publisher: Sams Edition: 1992 ISBN: 0-672-30202-0 Comment: A new and comprehensive guide to numerous Unix utilities ... 13. Title: The Frequently Asked Questions List Author: Ted Timar Edition: 92/10/20 Comment: This is a multi-part list of often-asked Unix questions (with answers) ... Read the postings on news.answers or get them by ftp from pit-manager.mit.edu (in /pub/usenet/news.answers/unix-faq) ... 14. Title: The Design of the Unix Operating System Author: Maurice Bach Publisher: Prentice Hall Edition: 1986 ISBN: 0-13-201799-7 Comment: An excellent reference on the internals of System V ... This book and the next one are indeed highly technical ... And if you just want a short case study on Unix, consult a good text on operating systems like Modern Operating Systems by A. Tanenbaum or Operating System Concept by A. Silberschatz, J. Peterson and P. Galvin ... 15. Title: The Design and Implementation of the 4.3 BSD Unix Operating System Authors: Samuel Leffler et al Publisher: Addison-Wesley Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-201-06196-1 Comment: An authoritative description of the design of BSD Unix ... "It covers the internal structure of the 4.3BSD system and the concepts, data structures, and algorithms used in implementing the system facilities." ... B. Shells ************* 1. Title: The Unix C Shell Field Guide Authors: Gail Anderson and Paul Anderson Publisher: Prentice Hall Edition: 1986 ISBN: 0-13-937468-X Comment: The C-Shell Bible - everything you need to know to understand csh and use Unix effectively ... 2. Title: Unix C Shell - Desk Reference Author: Martin Arick Publisher: QED Technical Edition: 1992 ISBN: 0-89435-328-4 Comment: A more recent text on maximizing the use of C-Shell ... 3. Title: Unix Shell Programming Authors: Stephen Kochan and Patrick Wood Publisher: Hayden Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-672-48448-X Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** A classic on using and programming Bourne Shell (and Korn Shell) ... 4. Title: Unix Desktop Guide to the Korn Shell Author: John Valley Publisher: Sams Edition: 1992 ISBN: 0-672-48513-3 Comment: This one is even better and easier to read than the authoritative work by Korn and Bolsky ... C. Unix Editors ******************* 1. Title: GNU EMACS Manual Author: Richard Stallman Publisher: Free Software Foundation Edition: 6th ed. 1988 Comment: The official manual of GNU Emacs ... Essential for emacs users ... 2. Title: Learning GNU Emacs Authors: Debra Cameron and Bill Rosenblatt Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1992 ISBN: 0-937175-84-6 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** Probably the best documentation on editing with GNU Emacs ... 3. Title: Desktop Guide to Emacs Authors: Ralph Roberts and Mark Boyd Publisher: Sams Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-672-30171-7 Comment: Another good book on emacs ... 4. Title: Learning the vi Editor Author: Linda Lamb Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-937175-67-6 Comment: A very good guide to vi and ex commands ... With a quick reference card ... 5. Titles: vi Tutor and vi Reference Authors: Micheal Pierce and Robert Ware (Tut), Maarten Litmaati (Ref) Edition: 1.3 (Tut), 8 (Ref) Comment: These and other good vi stuff are obtainable by anonymous ftp from cs.uwp.edu (in pub/vi) ... D. Networking and Communications ************************************* 1. Title: Unix Networking Authors: Edited by Stephen Kochan and Patrick Wood Publisher: Hayden Edition: 1989 ISBN: 0-672-48440-4 Comment: Fairly technical on different issues of networking ... 2. Title: Managing NFS and NIS Author: Hal Stern Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-937175-75-7 Comment: A comprehensive, technical guide for system admins on distributed computing tools - NFS and NIS(YP) ... 3. Title: Unix Network Programming Author: Richard Stevens Publisher: Prentice Hall Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-13-949876-1 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** An excellent book on programming network softwares ... The source codes and errata list are obtainable by ftp from ftp.uu.net (in /published/books) ... 4. Title: Adventures in Unix Network Applications Programming Authors: Bill Riekan and Lyle Weiman Publisher: Wiley Edition: 1992 ISBN: 0-471-52858-7 Comment: A recent book on network programming ... 5. Title: The Waite Group's Unix Communications Authors: Bart Anderson, Brian Costales & Harry Henderson Publisher: Sams Edition: 2nd ed. 1991 ISBN: 0-672-22773-8 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** A really excellent book on e-mail (Mail, elm), netnews (rn, nn) and UUCP ... 6. Title: Managing UUCP and Usenet Authors: Tim O'Reilly and Grace Todino Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 10 ed. 1992 ISBN: 0-937175-93-5 Comment: Well written on the setting-up and maintenance of UUCP and Netnews ... 7. Title: Using UUCP and Usenet Authors: Grace Todino and Dale Dougherty Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-937175-10-2 Comment: Well written on how to use uucp and netnews ... 8. Titles: Internetworking with TCP/IP Vols I, II and III Authors: Douglas Comer and David Stevens Publisher: Prentice-Hall Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-13-468505-9 (I), 0-13-472242-6 (II), 0-13-474222-2 (III) Comment: A detailed discussion on the architecture and implementation of the Internet and its protocols ... Vol I (on principles, protocols and architecture) is readable by everyone, Vol 2 (on design, implementation and internals) is more technical, and Vol 3 (on client-server computing) is recently out ... 9. Title: TCP/IP Network Administration Author: Craig Hunt Publisher: O'Reiily Edition: 1992 ISBN: 0-937175-82-X Comment: With everything you need to know about the installation and running of a TCP/IP network ... 10. Title: DNS and BIND Authors: Paul Albitz and Cricket Liu Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1992 ISBN: 1-56592-010-4 Comment: A unique guide on domain name system for system admins ... "DNS and BIND discusses one of the Internet's fundamental building blocks: the distributed host information database that's responsible for translating names into addresses, routing mail to its proper destination and many other services." 11. Title: The Whole Internet User's Guide Catalog Author: Ed Krol Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1992 ISBN: 1-56592-025-2 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** Definitely a MUST for any new and not-so-new Internet users ... "It is a complete user's guide to the Internet, covering everything from the basics, like electronic mail and newsgroups, to the newest developments. A large part of the book tells you how to find the resources you want." ... 12. Title: Zen and the Art of the Internet Author: Brendan Kehoe Edition: 1st ed. 1992 Comment: A comprehensive overview of the Internet for beginners ... This document, in different formats, can be obtained by anonymous ftp from world.std.com (in /obi/Internet/zen-1.0) or as zen10.zip from /pub/msdos/books at oak.oakland.edu ... The second edition is commercial, published by Prentice Hall ... 13. Title: E-Mail: Pervasive and Persuasive in IEEE Spectrum Authors: Tekla Perry and John Adam Edition: October 1992 Volume 29 Number 10 Pages: 22 - 33 Comment: An interesting special report on E-Mail networks ... E. System Administration **************************** 1. Title: Unix System Administration Handbook Authors: Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder and Scott Seebass Publisher: Prentice-Hall Edition: 1989 ISBN: 0-13-933441-6 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** Classic, also known as the sys-admin bible ... "an attempt to condense everything that a system administrator should know about UNIX into a single, easy-to-use volume" ... Source codes for programs listed (sa-book.tar.Z) can be obtained by anonymous ftp from boulder.colorado.edu (in /pub/sa-book) or oak.oakland.edu (in /pub/unix-c/sysadmin) ... 2. Title: Unix System V Release 4 Administration Authors: David Fiedler, Bruce Hunter and Ben Smith Publisher: Hayden Edition: 2nd ed. 1991 ISBN: 0-672-22810-6 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** A must for any intermediate / advanced users of Unix ... "you'll find the information you need to organize a practical, efficient, and productive UNIX system" ... 3. Title: Essential System Administration Author: Aeleen Frisch Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-937175-80-3 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** A must for serious users / sys admins of Unix ... "It provides a compact, manageable treatment of the tasks and issues that everyone responsible for a UNIX system faces." ... 4. Title: Unix System - Advanced Administration and Management Handbook Author: Bruce Hunter and Karen Hunter Publisher: MacMillan Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-02-358950-7 Comment: Another good book on system administration ... 5. Title: System Performance Tuning Author: Mike Loukides Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-937175-60-9 Comment: A fine book for sys admins on how to fine tune your Unix system(s) to do more work ... F. Unix Security ******************** 1. Title: Practical Unix Security Authors: Simson Garfinkel and Gene Spafford Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-937175-72-2 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** Simply the best book in this field ... "everything you need to know to make your UNIX system as secure as it can be." ... 2. Title: Unix System Security - A Guide for Users and System Administrators Author: David Curry Publisher: Addision Wesley Edition: 1992 ISBN: 0-201-56327-4 Comment: Good and comprehensive coverage ...With pointers to further info ... 3. Title: Unix System Security Author: Rik Farrow Publisher: Addison Wesley Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-201-57030-0 Comment: Another fine book on Unix security ... But some errors ... 4. Title: Site Security Handbook Authors: Edited by Paul Holbrook and Joyce Reynolds Edition: 1991 Comment: A guide to setting computer security policies and procedures for sites that have systems on the Internet ... This is rfc1244.txt which is available by anonymous ftp from nic.ddn.mil (in rfc directory) ... Also rfc1281.txt - Guidelines for the Secure Operation of the Internet ... 5. Title: Computer Security Basics Authors: Deborah Russell and G T Gangemi Sr. Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-937175-71-4 Comment: A clear overview on many different security issues ... 6. Title: The Cuckoo's Egg Author: Cliff Stoll Publisher: Pocket Books Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-671-72688-9 Comment: A fascinating real story on computer espionage ... A good alternative to this is Cyberpunk written by Katie Hafner and John Markoff and published by Touchstone Book ... G. Programming ****************** 1. Title: The Unix Programming Environment Authors: Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike Publisher: Prentice-Hall Edition: 1984 ISBN: 0-13-937681-X Comment: A true classic on Unix programming ... 2. Title: Advanced Programming in The Unix Environment Author: Richard Stevens Publisher: Addison-Wesley Edition: 1992 ISBN: 0-201-56317-7 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** A going-to-be classic on how programs work under Unix ... The source codes and errata list are obtainable by ftp from ftp.uu.net (in /published/books) ... 3. Title: Advanced Unix Programming Author: Marc Rochkind Publisher: Prentice Hall Edition: 1985 ISBN: 0-13-011818-4 Comment: A superb book covering all system calls in detail ... 4. Title: The C Programming Language Authors: Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie Publisher: Prentice Hall Edition: 2nd ed. 1988 ISBN: 0-13-110362-8 Comment: This book is 200% a MUST for any C programmers ... 5. Title: C - A Reference Manual Authors: Samuel Harbison and Guy Steel Publisher: Prentice Hall Edition: 3rd ed. 1991 ISBN: 0-13-110933-2 Comment: An authoritative reference to C programming language ... A good companion to Kernighan and Ritchie ... 6. Title: The Waite Group's New Primer C Plus Authors: Mitchell Waite and Stephen Prata Publisher: Sams Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-672-22687-1 Comment: A really good introduction to C for beginners ... 7. Title: C: The Complete Reference Author: Herbert Schildt Publisher: McGraw Hill Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-07-881538-X Comment: Another classic on the C language ... 8. Title: Practical C Programming Author: Steve Oualline Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-937175-65-X Comment: Yet another good C book describing how to create programs that are easy to read, maintain and debug ... 9. Title: Using C on the Unix System Author: David Curry Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-937175-23-4 Comment: This book is directed to (would-be) system programmers ... 10. Title: The Berkeley Unix Environment Author: Nigel Horspool Publisher: Prentice Hall Edition: 2nd ed. 1992 ISBN: 0-13-089368-4 Comment: **** Highly Recommended **** An excellent book on C programming for Berkeley Unix system ... "a companion text intended for use in college and university courses concerned with Compiler Construction, Software Engineering and Operating Systems" ... 11. Title: The Waite Group's C++ Programming Author: John Berry Publisher: Sams Edition: 1992 ISBN: 0-672-22771-1 Comment: A fine book on OOP with C++ (for Unix and Dos) ... 12. Title: The C++ Programming Language Author: Bjarne Stroustrup Publisher: Addison-Wesley Edition: 2nd ed. ISBN: 0-201-53992-6 Comment: A classic reference on C++ ... 13. Title: C++: The Complete Reference Author: Herbert Schildt Publisher: McGraw Hill Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-07-881654-8 Comment: Another good text on C++ ... 14. Title: Managing Projects with make Authors: Steve Talbott and Andrew Oram Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 2nd ed. 1991 ISBN: 0-937175-90-0 Comment: An unique text on using make for software development ... 15. Title: The AWK Programming Language Authors: Alfred Aho, Brian Kernighan and Peter Weinberger Publisher: Addison-Wesley Edition: 1988 ISBN: 0-201-07981-X Comment: A complete description by the authors of awk ... 16. Title: Sed and Awk Author: Dale Dougherty Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-937175-59-5 Comment: A very good work on programming / text processing with sed and awk ... 17. Title: Programming Perl Authors: Larry Wall and Randal L. Schwartz Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1992 ISBN: 0-937175-64-1 Comment: The authoritative guide to Perl - the programming language for for any serious Unix users ... 18. Title: Writing A Unix Device Driver Authors: Janet Egan and Tom Teixeria Publisher: Wiley Edition: 2nd ed. 1992 ISBN: 0-471-53574-5 Comment: A unique book on writing programs to control hardware devices ... H. TeX ********** 1. Title: The TeXbook Author: Donald Knuth Publisher: Addison Wesley Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-201-13448-9 Comment: The Bible ... A definite guide to typesetting with TeX ... 2. Title: TeX for the Impatient Author: Paul Abrahams Publisher: Addison-Wesley Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-201-51375-7 Comment: A more user-friendly handbook on TeX ... 3. Title: LATeX - A Document Preparation System Author: Leslie Lamport Publisher: Addison Wesley Edition: 1986 ISBN: 0-201-15790-X Comment: The bible for LATeX users ... I. X Window System ********************** 1. Title: X Window System Users' Guide Authors: Valerie Quercia and Tim O'Reilly Publisher: O'Reilly Edition: 1990 (Motif or MIT) ISBN: 0-937175-61-7 Comment: Volume 3 in O'Reilly's excellent X-Window series ... A fairly useful tutorial-type book to X11R4 ... [ BTW ... Some other books in O'Reilly's X Window System series ... Vol. 0 - X Protocol Reference Manual, for X 11 R4 and R5 Vol. 1 - Xlib Programming Manual, for X11 R4 and R5 Vol. 2 - Xlib Reference Manual, for X11 R4 and R5 Vol. 4 - X Toolkit Intrinsics Programming Manual, R4 Vol. 5 - X Toolkit Intrinsics Reference Manual, for X11 R4 and R5 (An update for owner of Vols 1, 2, 4 and 5 ... Programmer's Supplement for Release 5 of the X Window System, Verion 11) Vol. 6 - Motif Programming Manual Vol. 7 - XView Programming Manual (also XView Reference Manual) Vol. 8 - X Window System Aministrator's Guide, for X11 R5 The X Window System in a Nutshell ] 2. Title: The X Window System - A User's Guide Author: Niall Manfield Publisher: Addison Wesley Edition: 1990 ISBN: 0-201-56344-4 Comment: Another good tutorial-type book to using X ... 3. Title: X Window Inside & Out Author: Levi Reiss and Joseph Radin Publisher: McGraw Hill Edition: 1992 ISBN: 0-07-881796-X Comment: A recent text on using and programming X Window ... 4. Title: X Window System Programming and Applications with Xt Author: Doug Young Publisher: Prentice Hall Edition: 1989 (Motif or Open Look) ISBN: 0-13-497074-8 Comment: An excellent book on X programming ... J. Dictionary ***************** 1. Title: The New Hacker's Dictionary Author: Eric Raymond Publisher: MIT Press Edition: 1991 ISBN: 0-262-68069-6 Comment: This book corresponds to version 2.9.6 of the on-line jargon file ... The latest (at the time of writing) is version 2.9.10 (jargon2910.ascii.Z) which is available by ftp from wuarchive.wustl.edu (in mirrors/gnu) ... Changes since the publication of this book can be found in the file jargon-changes.Z ... K. Other Lists ****************** 1. Title: Yet Another Book List Author: Mitch Wright Edition: Nov 6 1992 Comment: This is an excellent compilation of almost all Unix and C book titles along with info for locating them and short reviews and summaries of book contents ... You can get it (yabl) by anonymous ftp from ftp.rahul.net (in /pub/mitch/YABL) ... 2. Title: X Technical Bibliography Author: Ken Lee Edition: Nov 4 1992 Comment A good collection of publicly available X window system technical materials ... The bibliography is posted periodically on misc.books.technical and you can also get it by anonymous ftp from pit-manager.mit.edu (in /pub/usenet/misc.books.technical) ... 3. Title: Network Reading List: TCP/IP, Unix and Ethernet Author: Charles Spurgeon Edition: 3.5 Feb 1992 Comment: This annotated list describes those items that cover the subject areas well ... It is obtainable by anonymous ftp from ftp.uu.net (in /inet/doc) ... 4. Title: Catalog of O'Reilly Books Authors: O'Reilly staff Edition: July 24 1992 Comment: You get can it (book.catalog.Z) by anonymous ftp from ftp.ora.com ... where you can also find source codes for examples in many books in the Nutshell and X series ... Or read the more-updated online catalog on O'Reilly gopher server (telnet gopher.ora.com login: gopher) ... -- Samuel Ko (kko@sfu.ca) (aka: The Smart One) Expert in Computer Books and Documentations ... (Mail) End of article 26688 (of 26703)--what next? [npq] 26689 JArticle 26689 (5 more) in comp.unix.questions: Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.misc From: crigler@cs.ucf.edu (James Crigler) Subject: Re: UNIX TRIVIA QUESTIONS!! Organization: University of Central Florida Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 04:43:13 GMT Lines: 34 yvonne@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes: >The following questions have come up in an operating systems >class I am taking. As yet, we haven't discovered the answers. >Any help that you can offer would be appreciated!! >UNIX TRIVIA(L) QUESTIONS >1. What is the origin of the command "grep"? The command verb doesn't > seem to bear any resemblance to its purpose. [Stuff I can't answer deleted.] In the editor "ed", if you want to display all lines that contain a particular "regular expression" (re), you would enter this command: g/regular expression/p where "g" means "global", "/regular expression/" is the thing you want to see the occurrences of "p" means "print". Now mentally abbreviate "/regular expression/" as "re" and voila!, grep. I do know that it happened, but I can imagine the original grep as a shell script that created an ed editing script, then invoked it. (It might be pretty easy.) Jim Crigler crigler@eola.cs.ucf.edu ---------------------------- Guinan is Q's mother. From: john@iastate.edu (John Hascall) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.misc Subject: Re: UNIX TRIVIA QUESTIONS!! Date: 21 Nov 92 16:29:13 GMT Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA Lines: 34 yvonne@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes: }UNIX TRIVIA(L) QUESTIONS } }1. What is the origin of the command "grep"? The command verb doesn't } seem to bear any resemblance to its purpose. g/re/p }2. On an AT&T 3B2, one must type the firmware password "mcp" } when entering the firmware mode. Does this password } stand for anything? "Master Control Program"? (from the movie _Tron_???) (61%)}3. Also on an AT&T 3B2, one of the tty characteristics that can } be set is "Hangup delay". What is this? Presumably so a noise phone line doesn't drop a modem session }4. What is the command to bring a background job back into } the foreground on an AT&T 3B2? ("fg" doesn't work) buybsd }P.S. The AT&T 3B2 is running Unix System V Release 3.2 John -- John Hascall ``An ill-chosen word is the fool's messenger.'' Systems Software Engineer Project Vincent Iowa State University Computation Center + Ames, IA 50011 + 515/294-9551 (Mail) End of article 26699 (of 26703)--what next? [npq] 26690 JArticle 26690 (4 more) in comp.unix.questions: From: jon@jonlab.UUCP (Jon LaBadie) Organization: Freshman, CIT general, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386,comp.unix.questions Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 16:51:09 -0500 From: Geoffrey Spear Subject: Re: How does a mortal become a UNIX WIZARD ? In-Reply-To: Lines: 11 Also, read the jargon file and start using obscure hacker jargon all the time. It will at least make you *seem* to be a wizard of some sort, at least to those who have no idea what you're talking about and who are afraid to admit it :) ----------------------------------- Geoff Spear Carnegie Mellon University Electrical and Computer Engineering Class of '96 (I hope...) ----------------------------------- "You're redlining my bogometer!" Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.sysv386 From: apl@world.std.com (Anthony P Lawrence) Subject: Re: How does a mortal become a UNIX WIZARD ? Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3 Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 01:17:07 GMT Lines: 31 haley@husc11.harvard.edu (Elizabeth Haley) writes: : mbarkah@slate.mines.colorado.edu (Ade Barkah) writes: : : : >What does it take for a man, er, person, to become a Unix Wizard ? : : Seriously, time, and much study. : Write programs, write device drivers, reconfigure your kernal 1000 : thousand times, to make a little faster or a little more efficient... : Get a 386 box, and get 386BSD running on it, then go through the code : for it until you understand how it all adds up. : Then you will be a *novice* wizard :-) I bought BSDI's release with exactly the intention of going through the code. I expect that if I spend a couple of hours a week (about all I can spare), I should be getting real good at this just before I sign up for Social Security :-). Seriously, it's too much to start from "boot" and follow it on through. Theoretically possible, but practically... not. I have bought and read a lot of Unix books. The most helpful so far was Bach's "Design of the Unix OS". But it isn't exactly a roadmap to the source code. Can anyone recommend any other books? Tony apl@world.std.com Lawrence & Clark, Inc (617) 762-0707 (206) 323-2864 Xenix/Unix support,etc Boston Seattle