scotty@umbc3.UMD.EDU (Scott Paisley) (09/23/88)
I have just seen the final draft of a really amusing UNIX book called "Life With UNIX". The authors tell me it will it will be available in October but can be ordered now. Briefly, it is a "comprehensive overview" of UNIX, althought that hardly does it justice. This book is quite unusual, not only because of its scope, but because it prints things that have never appeared in print (for one reason or another) - things that most people don't realize or find until years after they have used UNIX. It is essentially a "reading between the lines" of all the other UNIX manuals, books and magazines. Lastly, "Life With UNIX" is chock full of amusing UNIX stories and anecdotes, all designed to provide you with key insights into why UNIX is the way it is. "Life with UNIX" is a must book for UNIX beginners to UNIX gurus. The major sections are: UNIX in Time - Usual trash plus history of user groups, universities, with a comprehensive "who's who" in UNIX history. Present & Future deals with where UNIX is now and where its going - companies, standards and dialects are treated at length. UNIX Information - How people really learn about UNIX. Discussion of books, magazines, conferences, and, of course, source code. Inside UNIX - In-depth descriptions of UNIX from three different perspectives - user, programmer and adminstrator. Outside UNIX - Third-party stuff. Discussions of how UNIX has prospered/withered in face of real-world problems. Underground - archives, USENET, public access UNIX, GNU, MINIX, public-domain and/or free software, etc. "Life With UNIX" by Don Libes and Sandy Ressler, Prentice-Hall, 1989, pp 350. ISBN 0-13-536657-7. Scott Paisley scotty@umbc3.umd.edu