tim@ora.UUCP (Tim O'Reilly) (12/17/88)
O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. is pleased to announce the publication of three new Nutshell Handbooks: Termcap and Terminfo, by John Strang, Tim O'Reilly and Linda Mui Checking C Programs with Lint, by Ian Darwin Understanding and Using COFF, by Gintaras R. Gircys A brief description of each of the books follows. termcap and terminfo by John Strang, Tim O'Reilly and Linda Mui ISBN 0-93717522-4 (248 pages; $21.95) The termcap and terminfo terminal databases are UNIX's solution to the difficulty of supporting a wide variety of terminals without writing special drivers for each terminal. Each database describes the special features of hundreds of terminals, together with a library of routines that allow programs to use those capabilities. This book provides all the information needed to read and modify existing termcap or terminfo entries, or to write whole new ones from scratch. It is a boon to system administrators and programmers. Generally, a UNIX system uses either the termcap or the terminfo database. However, many hybrid systems support both termcap and terminfo, and even more sites have both types of systems under the aegis of a single system administrator. Documenting termcap and terminfo together provides a tremendous advantage to users converting terminal descriptions from one to the other, or to users accustomed to one who have to adjust to the other. Contents include: o Terminal independence: the need for termcap and terminfo o Reading termcap and terminfo entries o Capability syntax o How users should initialize the terminal environment o Writing termcap and terminfo entries o Converting between termcap and terminfo o The capabilities: detailed description of each capability and how it is used. About the authors: John Strang, Tim O'Reilly & Linda Mui are all part of the core Nutshell crew, and have had a hand in many Nutshell Handbooks. John has since left the company, and gone on to become a doctor in San Diego. Checking C Programs with lint By Ian F. Darwin ISBN 0-937175-30-7 (72 pages; $12.95) lint may be among the most misunderstood--and underestimated--tools in the UNIX programmer's workbox. lint is a most useful tool, and one that no effective UNIX programmer can do without. lint checks up on programs written in the C language. It verifies a program or program segments against standard libraries. It checks the code for common portability errors. It tests the programming against some tried and true guidelines. linting your code is a necessary (though not sufficient) step in writing clean, portable, effective programs. If your programs are to have a chance of being portable to UNIXes or to other C-capable computers besides the particular one you use, there are only two choices: use lint, or keep your code to yourself. It's unfair to inflict code on the world--whether posting it to USENET or selling it for profit--without having run some basic portability checking on the code. This book tells you how to use lint effectively. Contents include: o Overview of using lint o Dealing with lint's concerns: casting and delinting o lint comments o Using lint in detail: command line options, using lint with make, rolling your own lint library o Public domain programs to extend lint o Under the hood: an inside look at lint o Future directions o A very brief history of UNIX About the author: Ian Darwin has worked with computers since 1971 and with UNIX since 1979. He taught and wrote the undergraduate UNIX course for the University of Toronto. Ian currently works with SoftQuad, Inc. in Toronto, developers of UNIX-based publishing solutions. Understanding and Using COFF By Gintaras R. Gircys. ISBN 0-937175-31-5 (164 pages; $21.95) COFF--Common Object File Format--is the formal definition for the structure of machine code files in the UNIX System V environment. All machine code files, whether fully linked executables, compiled applications, or system libraries, are COFF files. There is hardly a system-related task that does not require some knowledge of COFF--from understanding assembly source to implementing a proprietary system enhancement. This handbook explains the COFF data structure and its manipulation. Contents include: o The basics of COFF o Assembly code relocation process o COFF file headers o Relocation structures o The linking process o The COFF system in UNIX o Magic numbers o The COFF symbolic debug system o COFF and shared libraries o Utilities and techniques for working with COFF files o A sample program to manipulate COFF About the author: Gintaras Gircys twenty-year career in the computer field includes seven years at Data General, and eight years at NSC's Series 32000 UNIX effort. Gintaras currently is a technical information consultant working on Amdahl's mainframe UNIX project. For more information, or to order any of these books, call, write, fax, or e-mail us at the addresses given below: Jill Berlin (617) 527-4210 or (800) 338-NUTS O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Publishers of Nutshell Handbooks 981 Chestnut Street, Newton, MA 02164 UUCP: uunet!ora!nuts ARPA: nuts@ora.uu.net -- Tim O'Reilly (617) 527-4210 or (800) 338-NUTS O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Publishers of Nutshell Handbooks 981 Chestnut Street, Newton, MA 02164 UUCP: uunet!ora!tim ARPA: tim@ora.uu.net