The Art of Unix Programming by Eric S. Raymond

Michael J. Jordan, Linux Online Staff

For me, it's always a pleasure to read a good book that's related to my Linux work. It's doubly pleasurable when it's written by a luminary whose writing talents enrich the experience. When it's a book like Eric S. Raymond's 'The Art of Unix Programming', which falls into both categories, and then add to the fact that's it's also entertaining, and you've got quite a book in your hands.

I have been working with Linux since 1997. I was urged to try it during a conversation with an electrical engineer. We were discussing problems I was having with my Microsoft-based network in the small school I was running at the time. Linux is, of course, a Unix-like operating system and though I have been using computers constantly since my father brought home a Timex Sinclair, I had zero experience using Unix. After my engineer friend assisted me in my first Linux install, I downloaded a how-to which had a title similiar to 'MS-DOS-Windows-Linux'. It was essentially a Rosetta Stone of MS-DOS to Unix commands and equivalencies of other types. I had done quite a bit of Pascal on the MS-DOS command line, so I was comfortable with the black screen and blinking cursor. My introduction to the Unix world began pretty smoothly.

Now, if you're a first year college/university student and you've been in your dorm room a month or so, the command line probably sounds something like people saying 'KLondike 5 - 2345' to give their telephone number sounded like to me - on my radar but somewhat dated. But as much as GUIs have tried to abolish the command line, they just haven't succeeded. Unix tools and the command line is just too powerful a combination for it to be relegated to history. If you're in doubt as to the richness and power of Unix commands, then doubt no more. Pick up Eric Raymond's book and you'll be enlightened. ESR (as we know him in the Linux community) chose his cover art well - a picture of a Zen master guiding his pupil on the path to enlightenment. You'll see allusions to Buddhism throughout the text. This fits in well with ESR's explanation of Unix philosophy - how things are done in the Unix world. Alongside these bits of wisdom, he shares with us real-life experiences from the people who brought us Unix - Ken Thomson, David Korn and others.

This philosophy, explained so well by ESR, is that Unix stresses efficiency, simplicity and a modular approach to tackling computing projects. On many occasions when I have had to explain this approach to people who are used to firing up a GUI program to look for some word in a text, my explanation was probably not too convincing. After reading the Art of Unix Programming, I am better prepared to extol the virtues of :

for i in *.jpg ; do jpegtopnm $i | pnmscale -xsize 40 - | ppmquant 128 - | ppmtojpeg - > thumbnail/$i ; done

to someone clicking away at Photoshop. But better than hearing my explanations, they should pick up ESR's book - especially if they're preparing for a career in IT. I would say that for anybody thinking of becoming a programmer and/or system administrator, this book is worth 100 times more than any MSCE study guide. In fact, to read this book is to change your whole way of thinking regardless of whether you're just starting or you've got some Unix experience under your belt. In short, for the actual or potential IT professional, The Art of Unix Programming is a must-read.

Michael J. Jordan, is the webmaster of Linux Online. He can be reached at Michael.Jordan**AT**Linux.org