BKUNXIMP.RVW   990221

"UNIX for the Impatient", Paul W. Abrahams/Bruce R. Larson, 1996,
0-201-82376-4, U$29.00
%A   Paul W. Abrahams abrahams@acm.org
%A   Bruce R. Larson brlarson@lucent.com
%C   P.O. Box 520, 26 Prince Andrew Place, Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8
%D   1996
%G   0-201-82376-4
%I   Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
%O   U$29.00 416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948 bkexpress@aw.com
%P   824 p.
%T   "UNIX for the Impatient, Second Edition"

This is a no-nonsense, bare bones (you can always tell when something
has been typeset using troff), hold the handholding kind of book.  It
is written for the intelligent reader who has some familiarity with
computers.  It is not for dummies, not for the timid, not for those
who need lots of screen shots (preferably graphical) between the big
words.  It is of those who have work to do, have a 10 am Monday
deadline, and have been given a UNIX workstation or terminal.  It is,
in fact, for the impatient.

Chapter one is a quick history of UNIX, in the same spare style as the
rest of the book.  It ends with the beginning, as it were, with the
login process and some basic commands to get started.  (One minor
quibble: it *doesn't* tell you how to get out.  Although usually if
you give enough flush commands ...)  UNIX concepts are generally
explained piecemeal as new commands come up that require them.  The
background here is provided in chapter two, allowing the reader to
obtain, very quickly, an overall grasp of how the system, well,
operates.  File operations are discussed thoroughly in chapter three. 
The command entries, while not effusive, list all relevant switches,
and give examples where necessary.  Chapter four deals with data
manipulation and filters, including an extensive tutorial on awk.  A
variety of utilities are outlined in chapter five.  Shells and shell
scripts, concentrating on the Korn and POSIX shells, are discussed in
chapter six, with other shells in chapter seven.  Standard editors are
covered in chapter eight, with emacs saved for chapter nine, and emacs
utilities in ten.  Chapter eleven details various mail programs, with
a brief mention of news.  Both Internet and Usenet programs are
reviewed in chapter twelve, with Internet predominating.  The X
windowing system, and some utilities, are described in chapter
thirteen.  Chapter fourteen goes through system management and
administration tools.

Appendix A is an alphabetical list of commands, plus a brief listing
of command syntax and usage.  The comparison of MS-DOS and UNIX,
particularly the command equivalents, could be helpful in getting
intermediate or advanced DOS users up to speed on UNIX.  However,
given the differences in cultures and styles between the systems, the
authors may be trying to condense it too much.  I have seen it done
much better elsewhere.  A set of resources and references is a
valuable adjunct in Appendix C, especially with annotations.

For the intermediate computer user wanting to get working with UNIX
this is a very helpful, complete, and solid work.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1999   BKUNXIMP.RVW   990221