Hi

I recently noticed that there's now a 2nd edition of APUE (looks like it
was published last June).

I already have the 1st edition, and also Rich Teer's Solaris Systems
Programming.

I'm thinking of getting APUE 2e. Has anyone read it and it's predecessor,
and can comment on how much has changed and whether it's really worth
getting the second edition?

A bientot
Paul
--
Paul Floyd                 http://paulf.free.fr (for what it's worth)
Surgery: ennobled Gerald.

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Paul Floyd <root@127.0.0.1> wrote:

> I recently noticed that there's now a 2nd edition of APUE (looks like it
> was published last June).

looks like it (though I didn't see it in the stores til fall)

> I already have the 1st edition, and also Rich Teer's Solaris Systems
> Programming.

> I'm thinking of getting APUE 2e. Has anyone read it and it's predecessor,
> and can comment on how much has changed and whether it's really worth
> getting the second edition?

As the blurb says, it's generally updated and revised.  There's certainly
a lot more new material in APUE 2e than Teer's book.

--
Thomas E. Dickey
http://invisible-island.net
ftp://invisible-island.net

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Thomas Dickey wrote:
> Paul Floyd <root@127.0.0.1> wrote:
> 
>
> looks like it (though I didn't see it in the stores til fall)
> 
> 
>
> As the blurb says, it's generally updated and revised.  There's certainly
> a lot more new material in APUE 2e than Teer's book.
>

I've just been at my local book trader and took a look at both books. I
did not take too much time (~10min) though. To me it seems that both
books include something the other one does not have:
- APUE discusses the differences of the various UNIX flavors and points
out the additions of SUS over POSIX.
- Teer's version includes sections about localizations, secure
programming, and Solaris' specific features (e.g. doors).

Looks like one has to buy both...

Has anyone had a closer look at both?

Paul: do you think having both is a good idea or is any one of both
preferable (neglecting the fact that you probably still don't know what
enhancements are in the 2nd edition of APUE)?

Tom

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Thomas Maier-Komor <maierkom@lpr.e-technik.no-spam.tu-muenchen.de> wrote:

> I've just been at my local book trader and took a look at both books. I
> did not take too much time (~10min) though. To me it seems that both
> books include something the other one does not have:
> - APUE discusses the differences of the various UNIX flavors and points
> out the additions of SUS over POSIX.
> - Teer's version includes sections about localizations, secure
> programming, and Solaris' specific features (e.g. doors).

Teer's coverage on those is superficial (you're better off reading the
Solaris manpages).  For the rest, of course, see my previous comments -

http://www.invisible-island.net/critique/APUE-SSP.html

> Looks like one has to buy both...

APUE 1 and 2 - probably.
SSP certainly not.

--
Thomas E. Dickey
http://invisible-island.net
ftp://invisible-island.net

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Thomas Dickey wrote:
> Teer's coverage on those is superficial (you're better off reading the
> Solaris manpages).  For the rest, of course, see my previous comments -
>
> 	http://www.invisible-island.net/critique/APUE-SSP.html
> 
>
> APUE 1 and 2 - probably.
> SSP certainly not.

I have all 3 books (APUE 1&2e and Teer's book).  I've begun reading the
Teer book, and am using APUE2e more as a reference (until I have time
to read it cover to cover - but there's a lot of space between the
covers!).  It seems to me that they are very different books, directed
at very different audiences.

The Teer book seems very good for an (at best) _intermediate_ level
introduction to Solaris-specific UNIX systems programming.  Not very
in-depth, but a nice survey and it points out some very useful Solaris
specific features (e.g. I learned about the strccpy function from the
book, and it was immediately useful).  Along the way, he mentions
things that are useful for general UNIX knowledge, but it's basically
an intermediate level, Solaris-specific, systems programming book.

APUE2e is .... like the King James translation of the Bible; not the
same (or better or worse) as the original, but still authoritative and
more up to date.  Like the original, it can be used as both an
excellent, in-depth, advanced survey of UNIX systems program and as a
reference for specific functionality (I recently used it to review the
newer serial interfacing details, and it was very helpful - I'm trying
to insure that queues are drained).

This may be an "apples and oranges" comparison - seems like the Rago
and Teer books are not intended to address the same thing.   I've read
a lot of things by Teer on usenet that were very useful, and some
things that were either wrong or debatable - regardless; he has good
knowledge, in general, and spreads it around.  I haven't read nearly as
much by Rago, but everything I have read has been spot on.

By the way - I think it's wonderful that the authors writing follow-up
editions to Stevens' classics are including him in the list of authors.

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Bill Fulton <bill-20874@mail.com> wrote:
> The Teer book seems very good for an (at best) _intermediate_ level
> introduction to Solaris-specific UNIX systems programming.  Not very
> in-depth, but a nice survey and it points out some very useful Solaris
> specific features (e.g. I learned about the strccpy function from the
> book, and it was immediately useful).  Along the way, he mentions

strccpy isn't Solaris-specific.  It's part of libgen, which (with google
assisting my memory;) was originally AT&T code and is present in the
SVr4-derived platforms as well as several others (such as Tru64).

--
Thomas E. Dickey
http://invisible-island.net
ftp://invisible-island.net

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On Thu, 19 Jan 2006, Thomas Dickey wrote:

> Teer's coverage on those is superficial (you're better off reading the
> Solaris manpages).  For the rest, of course, see my previous comments -

You're entitled to your opinion, no matter how wrong it is, but as usual
you are mistaken.  One of the Sun engineers who reviewed the doors chapter
of SSP stated that it could well be the authoritative text on the subject
(this was of course before the source code for Solaris was opened up).
And I'd take his word over yours any day, especially as the guy in question
actually wrote some of the doors code.

If you don't like my book, that's fine.  But I think it's kind of sick
that you seem to get such a kick out of deriding my work--work that took
3.5 years of my life to complete, 3 of which I was unemployed for.  We (my
wife and I) have yet to pay off the debt we accumulated during that time,
and without her support we would have gone bankrupt; the financial strain
alone caused my wife to have a mental breakdown (which she has now recovered
from)--not that you'd care.  So how about a little professional courtesy, an
d
taking a leaf out of Thumper's book: if you can't say something nice, don't
say anything at all.

SSP is not, as you imply, a copy of APUE with a few Solaris bits added.  At
almost twice the size, how could it be?  Instead of slagging off someone
else's work, why don't you impress us with your technical prowess and try
writing a book about xterm or ncurses?

--
Rich Teer, SCNA, SCSA, OpenSolaris CAB member

President,
Rite Online Inc.

Voice: +1 (250) 979-1638
URL: http://www.rite-group.com/rich

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On Thu, 19 Jan 2006, Bill Fulton wrote:

> This may be an "apples and oranges" comparison - seems like the Rago
> and Teer books are not intended to address the same thing.   I've read
> a lot of things by Teer on usenet that were very useful, and some
> things that were either wrong or debatable - regardless; he has good
> knowledge, in general, and spreads it around.  I haven't read nearly as

Thank you for you kind words.

--
Rich Teer, SCNA, SCSA, OpenSolaris CAB member

President,
Rite Online Inc.

Voice: +1 (250) 979-1638
URL: http://www.rite-group.com/rich

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On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 14:38:32 +0100, Thomas Maier-Komor
<maierkom@lpr.e-technik.no-spam.tu-muenchen.de> wrote:

Hi

> Paul: do you think having both is a good idea or is any one of both
> preferable (neglecting the fact that you probably still don't know what
> enhancements are in the 2nd edition of APUE)?

From the publishing info, I see that APUEv2 has gained a few hundred
more pages.

My perspective is as a C++ applications developer, not a C systems
developer. However, I'm a strong believer that it never does any harm to
understand what's going on under the hood, because there are always
occasions when all those nice abstractions don't fit the bill.

I have all of W. Richard Stevens books (UNPv1 & v2, TCP/IP Illustrated
vols 1-3 and APUE). With the exception of TCP/IP Illustrated v3, they
are all excellent; he's the only author that I'd give marks of 10/10 to
(and I've read a _lot_ of programming books). The only drawback is that
some of the stuff is getting a bit dated.

Rich's SSP is a good book as well. Clearly, it has a strong APUE
flavour, and doesn't try to cover versions of Unix other than Solaris.
Stuff like doors doesn't interest me too much, but I did find the
sections on 64bit portability and the various standards (SUS etc) to be
useful. Also, Solaris is my primary platform both at work and at home,
which also counts in favour of SSP in my view.

Lastly, I've also read and quite enjoyed Rochind's AUPv2.

A bientot
Paul
--
Paul Floyd                 http://paulf.free.fr (for what it's worth)
Surgery: ennobled Gerald.

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Rich Teer <rich.teer@rite-group.com> wrote:

the usual non-responsive attack.

--
Thomas E. Dickey
http://invisible-island.net
ftp://invisible-island.net

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