The New Kornshell Command and Programming Language

I have been using this book in my shell scripting classes forabout seven years now. I still find it to be the best reference. One of the many things I like about it is that it clearly identifies ksh88 and newer (e.g., ksh93) features. It does not address pdksh, found on many Linux systems as /bin/ksh, but you can get real AT & T ksh93 for free so why use pdksh? My only complaint is that the book is rather long in the tooth (1995) and there are a lot of new features in ksh93-k+ let aloneksh93-o (the current release). A new edition is overdue.In the same shell scripting class, I teach ksh93, nawk, sed, andexpect. I find, with this book, the students can do everything they might have done in nawk or sed in straight ksh93. Other ksh books do not, in my experience, give the students the information necessary that they can do that.

.This is a comprehensive, useful book detailing all aspect of the new Korn Shell. The Korn shell is not just a UNIX shell, but also a programming language that is powerful and well suited for a UNIX power user. If you are not computer or UNIX savy, you would be better off using the csh (C-SHELL).Since, the Korn shell is powerful and hence, more complicated than typical UNIX shell programs. The need for a good book on the subject is mandatory for those who wish to master it.It also contains a good tutorial and, my favorite, a quick reference guide on the back cover. The quick reference is a very useful item worth photocopying and pinning to the wall by your workstation. Each entry is keyed to the page with more detailed information on the command. It is fast and handy.Anyone who reads this book will develop a better understanding of shells in general. The author explains many of the common shell tools such as piping and redirection.This book is an excellent text for the subject. I strong recommend it for those who are presently Korn shell users or those who wish to master this shell. It includes everything you will ever need to know about the shell.KORN Shell Index:Part I: Introduction1. About the KornShell Lanuage2. Notation used in this bookPart II: Turorial3. Operating System Concepts4. Command Language5. Programming Language6. Customizing your environmentPart III: Built-In Editors7. Introduction8. emacs Built-In Editor9. vi Built-In EditorPart IV: Programming Language10. Syntax11. Command Processing12. Compound Commands13. Parameters14. Built-In Commands15. Other Commands16. Invocation and EnvironmentPart V: Application Programming17. Shell Funcitons and Programs18. A Complete ApplicationPart VI : Apprendix19 Glossary20. Quick Refernce21. Portability22. Character SetIndexQuick Index-Back Cover

Is David Korn the author of the Korn shell? I usually don't quite care about the author. But this book is excellent. It makes me believe Perl cannot completely replace unix shell programming.

This book is very good when one is refering to the Korn shell, but it does not have a didactic if one is starting wiht this programing's language. However, it is as a reference handbook for ksh and of course, it also has a nice tutorial.

While it may be a bit heavy for beginners, this book is full of good info for more experienced ksh users and programmers, especially if you want to use more of the built in features included with the 1993 release. Beginners might want to try out O'Reilly's Learning the Korn Shell, even though it only covers the 1988 version of ksh. This book is geared for folks who already have a bit of time working with ksh. Keeping that in mind, I think it's the best resource available for the shell available, especially considering Dr. Korn wrote the book.