This is a classic text and an absolute must for anyone starting out on a programming career, IMHO. Any idea what the context of it appearing right now is?
Personally I found it disappointing as it seemed to take the view that the only UNIX in existence since 1992 has been Linux.
A better title would have been the Art of Linux Programming or the Art of Open Source Programming. Not in anyway a classic or essential reading.
'The Practice of Programming' and 'The UNIX Programming Environment' are much better introduction to programming and the tao of UNIX programming than the Raymond book.
"and an absolute must for anyone starting out on a programming career"
How does a person starting out know which parts of this are relevant and which are not? For example Mac OS is addressed pre OSX. Ok so maybe that's obvious to anyone as outdated but what about other things that have changed since 2003?
> How does a person starting out know which parts of this are relevant and which are not?
I think this is why I think that a weathered mentor is a boon to learning -- they can pick out the learning resources that they've used that are actually good, which saves the mentoree(?) a lot of time.
(But then of course I'd say this, I recently became one by accident...)
> "Single-point failures in applications can corrupt the registry, frequently making the entire operating system unusable and requiring a reinstall."
> Cygwin ... is the first thing many Unix hackers install on such Windows systems as they are compelled by circumstances to make use of.
> The intended audience for the NT operating systems is primarily nontechnical end users, implying a very low tolerance for interface complexity.
Things were pretty poisonous i 2003 I guess, I would suggest readers in 2015 bear this in mind. Just think if there was a world where you could use Unix and Windows and Max OS without having to feel bad...
