Learning Unix for Mac OS X

Hey guys, it is not a book for gurus it is for learners and for beginners. As such this book is completely up-to the task and it is well written and easy to follow. It is never easy task to learn new things and studying UNIX isn't exception. This book is very nicely, didactically organized and facilitates the transition from subject to subject. I used this book and Linux and UNIX for a beginner training suite, 4DVDs + 2CDs includes 4 Unix Academy Certifications ed.2008 and they made the very efficient couple. You have the smooth consistent info with the book and then you have the workflow with the DVD. This book cover basics but often the basics are the most difficult things. For those people who had never touched UNIX internals of their Apple computer this book will do and it will make good intro into completely different way to do things.

In the vast world of Linux/UNIX, I found it hard to know where to start learning. I figured that since I knew a significant amount about OS X that this book might make for a good beginning level book. I was so right. For someone who knows absolutely nothing about UNIX commands, this book is for you. You will learn the absolute basics and nothing more. Keep that in mind: you will not learn anything beyond the basics. If you're looking for something a little more comprehensive, then look somewhere else. However, if you are looking for a short, basic introduction to the world of UNIX so you can get around, this book is definitely for you.

I have recently fallen in love with Macs. I had been a Windows developer for 15 years. Occasionally I have had to poke around on the Solaris command line at work, but I am a Unix newbie. This book does a great job of laying out the basics of Unix for people who have little or no Unix experience. This book does not provide a "quick start". It does not go into excessive depth on Unix. But it does provide fundamental building blocks for expanding one's Unix knowledge. My suggestion to Unix novices: read this little book from cover to cover. Then you'll be able to take advantage of all the free articles and technical documentation that explain how to do the fun, tricky stuff.

I am not sure what the other posters thought but this book simply brought you into the world of UNIX. For some reason they thought they were going to learn in-depth UNIX in 150 pages. "Learning UNIX for OS X" is just a small step into learning the command line interface in Mac OS X. This book does not show you architecture of the OS nor advanced commands, Mac OS X Unleashed goes over these in-depth. OR if you want to master the command line, get O' Reilly's "Learning CSH & TCSH". The only real problem I had with this book is that it was an alteration of the already being published "Learning UNIX" book by O'Reilly which I own as well. While this book wasn't a waste of time, quite a bit was identical.

This is a terrific introduction to the Unix underneath Mac OS X from a couple of authors that know Unix inside-out. With coverage of the Terminal app, shell scripting, aliases, changing your command prompt, how to launch Aqua apps from the command line, and much, much more, I think it's a great addition to your Mac OS X library.It is less than 200 pages, but, frankly, I found this refreshing, given that I have lots of 700-900 page books that I only read the first 50-100 pages of anyway. The authors haven't been too badly influenced by their longer books either - Learning Unix for Mac OS X doesn't have page after page of useless "history" and "philosophy" in this tome. It's all focused and has lots of helpful examples.