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<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>Is This a Good Book for Linux Programming?</H3>
<p><strong>From Chris Gianakopoulos
</strong></p>
<p></strong></p>
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By John Karns, Faber Fedor
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Hello Gang,
I've mentioned that I am working on an embedded project that will use
Linux as its kernel. As a result, I am learning to write cool software
for the Linux platform.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
The type of stuff that I have to do will be fork()s and exec()s (the "s"
indicates lots of <TT> fork()</TT> and <TT> exec()</TT> invocations), IPC stuff, signals (I
know -- that's IPC stuff, too). and pipes. I know that there will be
slight differences (for example, the <TT> spawn()</TT> function), but now for the
question.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
There are lots of good guides (and of course, the man pages). I am also
presently reading a book entitled "Advanced Programming in the Unix
Environment" by Stevens.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Will that Stevens book lead me astray? It really is giving me lots of
good insight (what other insight could there be?), so I hope that you
tell me that it is good reading for learning to create complex software
systems in Linux.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Of course, I will read the man pages and guides, and I expect that some
header file may be in different places (I saw slight differences for
network programming).
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [J.Karns]
I've seen that book recommended for Linux programming on a LUG list I
subscribe to. Additionally, this one:
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote><BLOCKQuote>
The Design of the Unix Operating System, Pr. Hall, ISBN-0-13-201799-7
Moris J. Bach
</BLOCKQuote></blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Thanks for the confirmation. I've got the Bach book and read it years
ago. It is my reference for Unix internals.
I will read the Stevens book just for the sport of it since it applies
to my <A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</A> system. I am happy that it also applies to Linux.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Faber]
Excellent book, IMO. I was re-reading it Friday night (yes, I need a
life
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";-)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle"> and still learning new things.
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
I claim to have a life -- my peers don't agree with me when I start to
talk about technical stuff. I'm almost finished with chapter 9 -- the
stuff that talks about session leaders and stuff. Soon I read about
signals -- almost like writing interrupt handlers only a little easier.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Faber]
I don't do the kind of programming that you do, but I think the
combination of the Stevens book and the kernel documentation
(usr/src/linux/Documentation assuming you've installed the kernel
sources) should do you well
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
It will be not quite like an embedded project. That's what makes it fun
because it will be more like standard Unix programming (which I have not
yet done). I'll have to deal with such issues as do I run various
servers as daemons? What if I want daemon-to-daemon communication -- do
I use named pipes?
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
As I learn and discover, I will pass this type of information as 2 cent
tips.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Thanks for that info, Fabor. I will keep that Linux Documentation stuff
in my mind. I know that I ramble whenever I talk about this project
that I am working on. Here's why, though.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
When I was doing DSP (digital signal processor) programming, I would ask
myself questions like "I wish that I could use DMA for those A/D
samples." Then, I would turn around and discover that the feature
existed.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Linux is the same way. I'm architecting this system as I were designing
hardware to do the job. You want I/O? Use the messaging IPC. That
allows programming language independence with respect to server
implementation. Linux (and Unix) has all of these cool things that
provide for a concurrent implementation of the system.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
And that stability. The things that people can do when they work
together!!
</STRONG></P>
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