Product Description

Since 1996 this, the first edition of Beginning Linux Programming, has introduced tens of thousands of people to programming for Linux - the free UNIX-like PC OS that's taken the UNIX world by storm in recent years.

This book takes off where most Linux books stop, showing you how to make the most of the tools UNIX offers to program UNIX for real.

The first edition covers:
Programming in C, the main UNIX programming language
Client/Server and Network programming in the UNIX environment
HTML and using your Linux box as a CGI server
Rapid development tools: the shell and Tcl
X Windows and X programming with Tcl Tk and Java

A real-world CD database application is developed and extended throughout the book as new topics are covered, allowing you to see how the theory you've learnt can be applied in practice.

The book is unique in that it teaches UNIX programming in a simple and structured way, using Linux and its associated and freely available development tools as the main platform. Assuming familiarity with the UNIX environment and a basic knowledge of C, the book teaches you how to put together UNIX applications that make the most of your time, your OS and your machine's capabilities.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1325247 in Books
• Published on: 1996-08-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 710 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
With its decidedly user-unfriendly command line interface, Linux can be a foreboding operating system for the beginner. Far from the simple point-and- click style of Windows this UNIX derivative can be confusing to the point of raw frustration for all but the most patient of new users. Good job those nice people at Wrox Press have taken the subject in hand then! In spite of the age of this volume (it was published back in 1996) Beginning Linux Programming has aged very well and if you forgive the mentions of beta versions of some old versions of software there's plenty in here to keep the average Linux newbie happy.

Over 700 pages authors Neil Matthew and Richard Stones broach a huge number of topics ranging from shell programming to the use of curses, communication using sockets and an introduction to the Tcl language in an informative and easy to digest fashion. The one thing this book doesn't do is teach the newbie how to install Linux--that task is left in the hands of sister volume Instant Unix, but if you've already got that far and are looking for pointers on where to go next, Beginning Linux Programming could be the answer to the lion's share of your problems.

From the Publisher
A fully revised and expanded Second Edition of Beginning Linux Programming is available. Search for the title, Beginning Linux Programming 2nd Edition or the ISBN: 1861002971

From the Back Cover
If you have some programming experience and are ready to venture into Linux programming, this updated edition of the bestselling entry–level book takes you there. New to this edition are chapters on MySQL^® access and administration; programming GNOME^TM and KDE^TM; and Linux standards for portable applications. Coverage of kernel programming, device drivers, CVS, grep, and GUI development environments has expanded.

The authors guide you step by step, using construction of a CD database application to give you hands–on experience as you progress from the basic to the complex.

You’ll start with fundamental concepts like writing Linux programs in C. You’ll learn basic system calls, file I/O, interprocess communication, and shell programming. You’ll become skilled with the toolkits and libraries for working with user interfaces. The book starts with the basics, explaining how to compile and run your first program. First, each concept is explained to give you a solid understanding of the material. Practical examples are then presented, so you see how to apply the knowledge in real applications.

What you will learn from this book

• To write scripts that use grep, regular expressions, and other Linux facilities
• To develop programs to access files and the Linux environment
• To use the GNU compiler, debugger and other development tools
• To program data storage applications for MySQL and DBM database systems
• To write programs that take advantage of signals, processes, and threads
• To access the network using TCP/IP sockets
• To build graphical user interfaces using both the GTK (for GNOME) and Qt (for KDE) libraries
• To write device drivers that can be loaded into the Linux kernel

Who this book is for

This book is for programmers with some C or C++ experience who want to take advantage of the Linux development environment. You should have enough Linux familiarity to have installed and configured users on Linux.

Wrox Beginning guides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think, providing a structured, tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved.