The Unix Programming Environment

How is it that a book from 1984 based on a legacy Unix system, describing some tools that no one would now use, can still not only be in print but actually recommended?In introducing you to the Unix system, from simple shell commands, to shell scripts, to awk and sed programming, and to Unix applications programming, not to mention the best introduction to lex and yacc, the authors develop real applications and teach you how to THINK in Unix terms: develop small components that fit and interact with each other to build larger and larger and more complex applications.But it's more than just thinking in Unix terms: it's how to structure and approach programs and scripts no matter what environment you are in.Stevenson's _Advanced Programming In the Unix Environment_ is an excellent book for coverage. I have it too. But _The Unix Programming Environment_ is a book for developing your software mentality in a way that no other book that I've read even approaches.After 20 years as a Unix programmer, including kernel development of several Unix operating systems, this book still remains on my shelf.

Albeit this book was published in 1984 and when I started learning UNIX some ten years later, many of minor details were already a bit out-of-date, I believe that it will still be a marvel for those who work on modern UNIX/Linux systems, since the details are ever changing, the commands may differ from system to system, but the philosophy behind the UNIX technology stays the same, and this is what this book is all about. Written in a great style, resembling to that of another Kernighan's famous book "C programming language", compact and clear, this book is a true classic, one of (unfortunately) very few examples of long living technical books in our rapidly changing world. In short, it's highly recommended for those of fledging programmers or sysadmins who feel that UNIX is too cumbersome and messy to understand; it suits well for beginners and intermediates, who want to feel at UNIX as at home. And don't be scared with some out-of-date details: they are really minor... view them as UNIX history ;-)

This is the book that turned me on to UNIX. Actually at the time I read this book, I was burned out on computer programming in general and was thinking about moving into physics. Then I read this book. It illustrated very clearly the power and elegance of UNIX. As a result I regained my interest in computers, which in retrospect, turned out to be a very good thing.Unfortunately this book is System V-centric and doesn't say much about the improvements introduced by BSD, let alone gnu tools or linux. It was actually out of date at the time I bought it back in 1990. I'm still giving it 5 stars though because it's one of the best books I have read.

Merely half an inch thick, and employing the same cover design - or lack of it - as the C Programming Language, this is probably the least pretentious looking book on my bookshelf. However, the look is misleading - there are very few books, regardless of length, that aim to teach you as much as this one, and even fewer than succeed in it.Unix programming environment might sound a rather ambitious title nowadays, when a tutorial on each specialized tool can easily exceed 400 pages. However, this one actually delivers everything that it promises. Kernighan and Pike start with the basic description of Unix file system and the basic set of commands, continue with the command shell, redirection and piping. Next come the filters: regular expressions, grep, sort, sed and awk. At that point, the reader is ready for the full-fledged treatment of the command shell programming. Next come standard I/O and Unix system calls, followed by the program development tools: make, lex and yacc. The course is concluded with a chapter on document formatting with troff.The chapters on I/O and system calls imply familiarity with the C programming language. The already mentioned tutorial on C by Kernighan and Ritchie, written in much the same style and spirit, can serve as the introduction to it. Also, while the book keeps up with its age remarkably well, there are some points where the described Unix system differs from the modern POSIX systems (most user commands are however backward compatible and still accept the old syntax). The required changes are really minor, but can nevertheles annoy an innocent reader.The book belongs to nowadays rare breed of books on computers written for engineers and CS students rather than for dummies and idiots. Although primarily written for individual study, it can be used for one-semester course on Unix (like in C Programming Language, the exercises are lacking solutions, though). I would love to see it made-up with POSIX syntax and generally reflecting the changes made to Unix during the past 15 years.