The promise of having control over their environment draws programmers to UNIX. It offers powerful tools for the initiated within an operating system that can be customized and tuned in almost unlimited ways. Programmers use UNIX because it lets them do what they want. And they like to see the source code for the software they work with.So it's no surprise the most popular programming tools on UNIX are free. They're easy to get, easy to customize, and better than many tools put out by vendors. They also offer a great deal of power. And the source code is publicly available.This book and CD combination is a complete package for programmers who are new to UNIX or who would like to make better use of the system. The tools come from Cygnus Support, Inc., and Cyclic Software, companies that provide support for free software. The tools on the CD include:
- GNU Emacs, the legendary text editor
- gcc, the C and C++ compiler that immediately established itself as the best UNIX compiler for robustness and optimization
- GNU libraries (including C++ libraries)
- The gdb debugger
- RCS, a tool for backing up and maintaining multiple versions of source files
- GNU make, the most powerful version of that utility for managing builds
The book provides an introduction to all these tools for a C programmer. Previous experience with UNIX is not required.The CD-ROM in this book contains binaries for several popular UNIX systems, including Sun SPARC4 running SunOS 4.1.3, Sun SPARC4 running Solaris 2.4, HP 9000/700 running HPUX, IBM RS/6000 running AIX 3, SGI Iris/Indigo running Irix 5.3, and Alpha running Digital UNIX. Complete source code and scripts for configuration, building, and installation are also included.
Mike Loukides is a senior editor at O'Reilly & Associates. His current technical focus includes Java programming and networking topics. He is the author of two other O'Reilly books, System Performance Tuning and UNIX for FORTRAN Programmers. Mike previously worked at Multiflow Computer, where he created all of Multiflow's documentation on programming languages. In addition to Java and networks, Mike's technical interests include programming languages, system administration, and computer architecture. He is also a pass able pianist-in fact, one of the few amateur pianists who even tries to play music by Olivier Messiaen. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Judy, and their daughter, Alexandra. Over a ten-year career in computer documentation Andy Oram evolved from a proponent of the congenial user-oriented approach to a fanatic on the subject of explaining models and internal operations so as to empower computer users. He was not prepared by his education (which included music and social work) for the philosophical and pedagogical demands of this role, but seems to have fallen into it. His technical writing career encompassed several computer manufacturers, including Honeywell Information Systems (now Bull) and MASSCOMP (eventually merged with a couple of other companies). During this stint he wrote articles and delivered workshops on making user documentation verifiable through the same quality-assurance process used on other components of a computer system. Eventually giving up on the organizations that make software, he joined O'Reilly & Associates to write and edit the types of books he likes. Andy has also been a member of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility for many years and moderates their Cyber Rights mailing list, among other activies. Details can be found at http://www.ora.com/people/staff/andyo.
