 |
bash Cookbook: Solutions and Examples for bash Users
Customer Reviews: 1 Average Customer Rating:  Write a Review and tell the world about this title! People who purchase this book frequently purchase: - Learning the bash Shell, 3rd Edition; Cameron Newham, $21.95, 37% Off!
- MySQL Cookbook, 2nd Edition; Paul DuBois, $31.50, 37% Off!
- Perl Cookbook, 2nd Edition; Tom Christiansen, et al, $31.50, 37% Off!
- Linux Networking Cookbook; Carla Schroder, $27.95, 38% Off!
Books on similar topics, in best-seller order:Books from the same publisher, in best-seller order:
The key to mastering any Unix system, especially Linux and Mac OS X, is a thorough
knowledge of shell scripting. Scripting is a way to harness and customize the
power of any Unix system, and it's an essential skill for any Unix users, including
system administrators and professional OS X developers. But beneath this simple
promise lies a treacherous ocean of variations in Unix commands and standards.
bash Cookbook teaches shell scripting the way Unix masters practice
the craft. It presents a variety of recipes and tricks for all levels of shell
programmers so that anyone can become a proficient user of the most common Unix
shell -- the bash shell -- and cygwin or other popular Unix emulation packages.
Packed full of useful scripts, along with examples that explain how to create
better scripts, this new cookbook gives professionals and power users everything
they need to automate routine tasks and enable them to truly manage their systems
-- rather than have their systems manage them.
About the Authors
Carl Albing has worked for large companies and small startups, in technical
as well as in managerial and marketing roles. He wrote compiler software while
at NCR, medical image processing software at a small startup, distributed computing
software for the premier supercomputing company Cray Research, Inc. His experience
in software development goes back to the early 1970's working with the C Language
and Unix. In the last few years, he has put new Linux and Java technologies
to use for real-world business solutions. His education includes graduate work
in Computer Science as well as a degree in Mathematics and an International
MBA.
JP Vossen has been working with computers since the early 80s and has been
in the IT industry since the early 90s, specializing in Information Security
since the late 90s. He's been fascinated with scripting and automation since
he first understood what an autoexec.bat was, and was delighted to discover
the power and flexibility of bash and GNU on Linux in the mid-90s. He has previously
written for Information Security Magazine and SearchSecurity.com, among others.
On those few occasion when he's not in front of a computer, he is usually taking
something apart, putting something together, or both.
Cameron Newham lives in Perth, Western Australia. After completing a Bachelor
of Science majoring in information technology and geography at the University
of Western Australia, Cameron joined Universal Defence Systems (later to become
Australian Defence Industries) as a software engineer. He has been with ADI
for six years, working on various aspects of command and control systems. In
his spare time Cameron can be found surfing the Internet, ballroom dancing,
or driving his sports car. He also has more than a passing interest in space
science, 3D graphics, synthesiser music, and Depeche Mode.
Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews: 1 Average Customer Rating: Jul 2, 2007 Dave Crouse from Iowa, USA
Bashscripts.org - Review of "bash Cookbook"
I had been waiting "im"-patiently for this book to show up. Ever since I noticed it was going to be written, I had been looking forward to reading it. I must say, I wasn't disappointed. I really enjoyed the book and definitely learned a few new things along the way.
This book is designed for intermediate to advanced bash users. The book states in the preface that it is for "new" users as well as those more experienced. I think that they give too much credit to someone new too bash. If you don't know what bash scripting is, this book ISN'T for you. Try the book "Learning the Bash Shell", it would be much better to learn from. I'll say it one more time -- This book isn't for those new to shell scripting. In my opinion, it kind of picks up where "Learning the Bash Shell" and "Classic Shell Scripting" from O'reilly left off. It compliments both books pretty well. Where "Learning the Bash Shell" teaches you the basics, and "Classic Shell Scripting" builds on the concepts and materials covered in the chapter before, so it's a book that is best read front to back and not just used as a reference, this book is truly more of a reference that you can use to find solutions to different problems. Hence the "cookbook" in the title.
As an intermediate to advanced user, you will find many of the solutions very simple and straightforward, but I dare say, you will find a few new twists and solutions that you might not have thought of otherwise. When used a reference, it provides a nice Table of Contents with good descriptions that allow you to quickly find answers to many common problems. Examples are clear, concise, and well documented, making it fairly easy to follow along, even if you didn't understand the syntax of the code at first. I liked the fact they included many examples of sed,awk, and even ed, which are frequently used in shell scripting, but many books barely mention those programs.
The Appendix sections (A-E) take up 83 pages of the book, several of these could very well have just been additional chapters of the book. Appendix E "Building bash from Source" could have been chapter 1. However, each chapter/section is a "recipe" so I suppose it wouldn't have been in line with the rest of the chapters at that point. All in all, a very interesting book that I read front to back. It will be a valuable reference tool, that's easy to navigate and use. The chapters I enjoyed the most were Chapter 14 "Writing Secure Shell Scripts", where they included a template for quick reference. Several of the techniques I already knew about, a few I did not. I also liked Chapter 11 "Working with Dates and Times". Many good ideas there, and some very interesting code for the "date -d" command.
There are 3 great books for shell scripters from O'reilly, this is one of them.
For the beginner "Learning the Bash Shell". It teaches you the basics. For the intermediate user "Classic Shell Scripting". It builds on the basics, step by step. For the intermeidate to advanced users "bash Cookbook". A reference guide for common problems.
I would probably recommend reading them in that order as well. "bash Cookbook" is definitely going to be easier to read and get use of if you already know basic shell scripting. All 3 books have that "tattered" look and a permanent place on my bookshelf. I would say, "bash Cookbook" is absolutely a book worth owning if you enjoy shell scripting. I don't think I've ever seen a more complete set of solutions in a shell scripting book. In the preface, one thing that caught my eye ..... But perhaps most importantly, we hope that when you have a question about how to do something or you need a hint, you will be able to easily find the right answer--or something close enough-- and save time and effort. ------ I think they accomplished their goal ! 5 out of 5. Excellent book...excellent.
Dave Crouse Bashscripts.org http://bashscripts.org USA Linux Users Group http://usalug.org
|
|
