I've been, in piecemeal fashion, giving a review of Eric Raymond's book "The Art Of Unix Programming" and I must confess that it's tough going for someone who codes as little as I do. I at this point only know some basic shell and basic HTML, and to get the most out of Raymond's work, one must code in something more heavyweight such as one of the C's or Perl or even OO things. Raymond, now, will be critical of object-orientation in places but even that would help since most points the book makes are universal (among programmers).
Here's the two places I've been using to read the book online:
faqs.org
catb.org
See? See? I can at least code that.
As Raymond says in one of the intro sections, the book can benefit people that can at least understand that the Unix tradition might have something to teach them. It's not much help if you want to know about kernel application programming interfaces or C programming specifics. Even if you skim the hard parts and only absorb the culture, it can help one understand the Unix/open source ethos, and would be particularly helpful if you're coming from the object-oriented world to a Unix-based project.
I'll keep reading it but for purposes of this blog will move on to other topics - no doubt returning to this one from time to time, if only to rip off another Ken Thompson quote from Raymond.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Two Reviews (short)
In the middle of the other stuff I've promised here, lemme get two things off my chest: my experiences with the Mike Meyers "Passport" series study guide to the CompTIA Security+ certification exam, and a late experience with Fedora 12.
The Meyers series Security+ guide that I picked up used for about 3$ was worth a little more than that, considering that it came with a CD that had two practice exams (Windows-only reader, though). But although it knocked out the cobwebs regarding a few familiarity issues with me, my impression was that the questions (and perhaps the direction of the exam itself, which I've not yet taken) were so obvious that (on a test based solely on the book) one could get 75% without reading the book at all. I've switched to the Greg White book from McGraw-Hill for the current test (201); I'll give an impression of that one when possible.
The other issue I need to note: when downloading Fedora 13, I realized that I'd been doing it on a box with no burner. So I USB2'd an outboard Iomega and chose Brasero and then... stopped in my tracks about 5 minutes later. What's the matter with this picture? No reboot. No requests to install stuff. No error messages. Brasero didn't balk. NOTHING WENT WRONG. I burned the F13 install DVD while doing two other things and not paying attention. PLUS I used the full-install version of the DVD (not the live DVD or CD) to upgrade without disk wipe and there were no problems there, either. Not like a few years back when I trashed at least two installs that way.
People, Fedora is starting to work like a Mac. I'm sure many of you already experienced this or simply wonder what I'm behind about, but my job forces me to use... other stuff from You-Know-Who. So I've never had a lot of time to do testing. Way back when, many OS maintainers on the Linux side were criticized for having an attitude toward users that slammed those who wanted things to work and set up easier. Well, they seem to be getting the point at the Fedora Project, or were never in need of the point in the first place. My compliments to all concerned.
Back to the Eric Raymond book as soon as I get time.
The Meyers series Security+ guide that I picked up used for about 3$ was worth a little more than that, considering that it came with a CD that had two practice exams (Windows-only reader, though). But although it knocked out the cobwebs regarding a few familiarity issues with me, my impression was that the questions (and perhaps the direction of the exam itself, which I've not yet taken) were so obvious that (on a test based solely on the book) one could get 75% without reading the book at all. I've switched to the Greg White book from McGraw-Hill for the current test (201); I'll give an impression of that one when possible.
The other issue I need to note: when downloading Fedora 13, I realized that I'd been doing it on a box with no burner. So I USB2'd an outboard Iomega and chose Brasero and then... stopped in my tracks about 5 minutes later. What's the matter with this picture? No reboot. No requests to install stuff. No error messages. Brasero didn't balk. NOTHING WENT WRONG. I burned the F13 install DVD while doing two other things and not paying attention. PLUS I used the full-install version of the DVD (not the live DVD or CD) to upgrade without disk wipe and there were no problems there, either. Not like a few years back when I trashed at least two installs that way.
People, Fedora is starting to work like a Mac. I'm sure many of you already experienced this or simply wonder what I'm behind about, but my job forces me to use... other stuff from You-Know-Who. So I've never had a lot of time to do testing. Way back when, many OS maintainers on the Linux side were criticized for having an attitude toward users that slammed those who wanted things to work and set up easier. Well, they seem to be getting the point at the Fedora Project, or were never in need of the point in the first place. My compliments to all concerned.
Back to the Eric Raymond book as soon as I get time.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Review Preview #2
Another jewel from Eric Raymond's "The Art Of Unix Programming" ---
"Computer hardware was at that time more primitive than even people who were there to see it can now easily recall."
Preach it, brother.
"Computer hardware was at that time more primitive than even people who were there to see it can now easily recall."
Preach it, brother.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Review Preview: one of the most universal of truths...
(This is from Eric Raymond's The Art Of Unix Programming, which I'm currently reading.)
"The most basic argument for prototyping first is Kernighan & Plauger's:
90% of the functionality delivered now is better than 100% of it delivered never”.
"The most basic argument for prototyping first is Kernighan & Plauger's:
90% of the functionality delivered now is better than 100% of it delivered never”.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
News Item
It appears that Oracle is being a good neighbor with respect to open source-ing some things, or rather continuing to (subsequent to the Sun acquisition). This story indicates that the OpenSolaris project will undergo basically no change and that a commitment is being made to its future. Certainly this will benefit Oracle by the encouraging of experimentation with file systems and software features now under its control (like ZFS, the combined file system and LVM) but I see the continuing maintenance and free availability of any decent (-nix-oid) system as a good thing. In the words of the nerd-rock band DEVO, "duty now for the future"!
Monday, March 1, 2010
The Anti-Book-Review Times Two
Since I have two computing-related books to review and have not finished them yet, I'll let you in on the locations thereof. Both have online free versions in various places; here's some that I know about.
THE ART OF UNIX PROGRAMMING by Eric Raymond
Mr. Raymond has been around programming since way the hell back and offers this best-practices book that can do at least three things: document the early computing culture, acclimatize programmers to the Unix world that may have come from other environments and focus the efforts of other programmers who are Unix-native. Here's one of the book's many online homes:
Click HERE
NMAP NETWORK SCANNING
The Official Nmap Project Guide to Network Discovery and Security Scanning
by Gordon “Fyodor” Lyon
Living at the venerable nmap.org, this is a less-than-complete version (buy it to get everything) but this version is merely lacking in all examples and extended discussions. All the basics are here. The tool's free and the bad guys use it, too, so if you're a White Hat Wannabe like me, you have no choice but to get right with Nmap.
Click HERE
So now, let's see if I can finish these before you do - and before you scoop me on your blog.
THE ART OF UNIX PROGRAMMING by Eric Raymond
Mr. Raymond has been around programming since way the hell back and offers this best-practices book that can do at least three things: document the early computing culture, acclimatize programmers to the Unix world that may have come from other environments and focus the efforts of other programmers who are Unix-native. Here's one of the book's many online homes:
Click HERE
NMAP NETWORK SCANNING
The Official Nmap Project Guide to Network Discovery and Security Scanning
by Gordon “Fyodor” Lyon
Living at the venerable nmap.org, this is a less-than-complete version (buy it to get everything) but this version is merely lacking in all examples and extended discussions. All the basics are here. The tool's free and the bad guys use it, too, so if you're a White Hat Wannabe like me, you have no choice but to get right with Nmap.
Click HERE
So now, let's see if I can finish these before you do - and before you scoop me on your blog.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Well, happy December and stuff!
First, some housekeeping details: you may have noticed that I don't update quite as often as in the past. I am no longer an officeholder at the Houston Area League of PC Users, but that organization continues improvement efforts and reorganization as we speak, or type (check their site for the latest).
Second, I continue to press onward with technological interests such as the open source movement, computer security, backup methodology, unusual internet content, publishing, et cetera.
Thirdly, I'll use this blog to prognosticate and pass on interesting tidbits to whomever reads this blog, as well as for my own use (as an online link repository, for example).
Upcoming topics here may include...
The Nmap book by the Nmap guy
BackTrack 4 final release changes and progress
Recent TRK changes and improvements
Adventures In Learning Perl (hopefully without attacking competing languages much)
Adventures In Deleted File Recovery (or Oops I Did It Again, and in a different oddball file format this time)
So stay tuned and let's see what I come up with.
Second, I continue to press onward with technological interests such as the open source movement, computer security, backup methodology, unusual internet content, publishing, et cetera.
Thirdly, I'll use this blog to prognosticate and pass on interesting tidbits to whomever reads this blog, as well as for my own use (as an online link repository, for example).
Upcoming topics here may include...
The Nmap book by the Nmap guy
BackTrack 4 final release changes and progress
Recent TRK changes and improvements
Adventures In Learning Perl (hopefully without attacking competing languages much)
Adventures In Deleted File Recovery (or Oops I Did It Again, and in a different oddball file format this time)
So stay tuned and let's see what I come up with.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)