Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 23:11:59 -0400 From: Leo Papandreou <leo@talcom.net> To: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Learning C on FreeBSD... Message-ID: <19980916231159.49312@talcom.net> In-Reply-To: <199809162154.OAA12626@pau-amma.whistle.com>; from David Wolfskill on Wed, Sep 16, 1998 at 02:54:43PM -0700 References: <19980916153308.53065@talcom.net> <199809162154.OAA12626@pau-amma.whistle.com>
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On Wed, Sep 16, 1998 at 02:54:43PM -0700, David Wolfskill wrote: > >Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 15:33:08 -0400 > >From: Leo Papandreou <leo@talcom.net> > > >> The Kernighan/Ritchie book _is_ the authorative source for C. > > [I left the above in for emphasis; though I didn't write it, I tend to > agree with the perspective. dhw] > > >You may as well pick up Programming in the Unix Environment by the > >same authors, too. It will introduce you to the shell, make, sed, > >awk, lex, yacc, etc. There is even a section on the unix text formatting > >tools in case you want to document your programs to be understood by > >the man command. > > >Slim, inexpensive and highly recommended. > > I *believe* that the above is intended to refer to _The UNIX Programming > Environment_, by (Brian) Kernighan & (Rob) Pike. (It's also published Yes. Its been a while. I actually read it to completion long before I ever had the opportunity to sit in front of a unix prompt. This should say something for the overall quality of its writing. Any combination of Kernighan, Ritchie, Pike and Plaugher (eg The Elements of Programming Style) on the cover is an excellent buy. > by Prentice-Hall.) I also recommend it highly -- I've bought 3 copies > of it so far (and am not inclined to loan that book out again), though > it tends to be not very BSD-specific (the authors were at Bell Labs, > after all), and is a little dated in some respects (mostly, in not > referencing tools that have become in vogue since the book was written, > such as Perl). > > The book also has a somewhat subtle bit of self-reference in the text; > at the time I first encountered it, I had not yet actually had the > opportunity to work with a UNIX system (March, 1985, if I recall > correctly)... and I was sufficiently bemused/perplexed/puzzled by this > that I wrote a note to the authors. > > A few weeks later, I received an envelope from AT&T Bell Labs with my > note enclosed... and some writing (in blue ink), in which the writer > indicated that yes, they had worked fairly hard to pull that bit of > self-reference off... and thanking me for "careful reading". The > signature appeared to be that of Brian Kernighan. > > (Last time I saw Rob Pike was, I believe, at a USENIX conference at the > Town & Country, in San Diego a few years ago. As I recall, he was wearing > red shoes....) Intriguing. Looks like this evenining's bedtime reading list has been mapped out. > > Cheers, > david > -- > David Wolfskill UNIX System Administrator > dhw@whistle.com voice: (650) 577-7158 pager: (650) 371-4621 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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