Unix in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself: Covers OS X, Linux, and Solaris

I have taught UNIX at the college and professional level using several different books, but none of them were right for an introductory class. This one is. If you have a UNIX reference book you don't understand, get this one. Work through it cover to cover, and you'll have a good enough command of UNIX to use any other book out there.Dave Taylor's writing style is fun and easy to read, but he doesn't "talk down" to you either. His enthusiasm for UNIX as an operating system shines through. He supplies lots of simple exercises to build confidence and experience, even in the notorious editor vi.The only caveat I would warn someone about is, Dave heavily favors bash, the "Bourne Again Shell." You might want to make sure you have this shell available before purchasing the book.

I have been doing computer programming from six years. I have been most of the time a windows and GUI guy. But lately I have been using Unix extensively.I bought this book 8 months back and I cant thank the authors and SAMs enough for this great book.The title might sound silly, but the essence is 'Unix in 24, one hour sessions'. Unix can be very intimidating for a beginner. You dont even know what to learn. In my case, this book helped a lot.Highlight of this book is its chapter on vi editor. It is the best example and tutorial on vi I have ever seen. As you go through vi features along with the author, you will get a sense of purpose and orientation for each and every command in vi. The first chapter tells us the history of unix and different flavours of unix. From there the every important feature is explained in simple, concise manner. Telnet, ftp, c shell, basic shell programming, file ownership and permissions etc are explained very well. The only draw back is a missing command reference. The book has a quick one page command reference at the beginning of the book, which you can tear out. But for a regular programmer, this is not enough. For reference, I have supplemented this book with 'Unix Complete'. Anyway, at [price] this book is all worth it. This book is going to be with be forever.

To all those users wanting to learn Unix, but unsure where to start, this is "The Book." This book takes the user step-by-step on how to use Unix commands. The most important part of Unix is the commands. If you know them, then you're a Unix operator. This book has you take a command, understand it, and then apply it by using the command. It is a full circle solution on how to use Unix at the command line. After this learn a Linux flavor and become an expert. I run an ISP and Linux Support Group; I started with this very book. [email protected]

Why would this book teach you about Solaris? It's a UNIX book, first you read and learn UNIX then you buy a book and learn Solaris. I can't understand people who say books like this are confusing, how can a SAMS book be confusing? Especially UNIX, type the command that it says. As far as no pictures? Why would a UNIX book need Pictures? UNIX is not graphical it looks just like the words in the book. You can write UNIX commands on a piece of paper and that's UNIX. The book is Great! One of the Best Sams books out there. Perfect for new UNIX users. I bought it and read it and a few months later people were asking me UNIX commands.

When I first learned UNIX 8 years ago, there were't any books available - it was "learn by trial and error." When I found myself with a new programming job using UNIX, I was delighted to find this book.What's great about this book:- Covers all the basics & essentials of UNIX. - Goes over different UNIX platform differences. - Includes information on different text editors. - Very few, if any, distracting typos. - Humorous approach. - Written as author talking directly to reader. - Perfect for a refresher course!I'm finding more and more that SAMS books are the best, in any category - and this UNIX book is no exception.