[Gllug] Are old Unix books any good?

[Steve Cobrin]

> > Dermot Moynihan wrote:
> > Sometime ago, in response to a request here on what books to get to
> > facilitate my learning Linux, I was advised not to close my eyes to
> > the possibilities of Unix books. As I know nothing about Unix or
> > its evolution can anybody recommend a sort of a cut off publishing
> > date before which the book would not be worth getting. Or should I
> > regard the date as being irrelevant? I don't have enough knowledge
> > to judge the content.
> >
> > rgds
> > dermot

On Sunday 02 March 2003 19:36, Alan Peery wrote:
> In broad generalities:
>
> Old programming books can be quite useful as the old interfaces are
> still generally there.
>
> Old system architecture books are very useful, if studied side by
> side with a current one.  Of the best bits of reading I ever did was
> two kernel design books side by side--and you can achieve the same
> thing by going back in time.  I'd recommend the Bach book on the Unix
> kernel along with a current Linux book if you're interested in this
> area.
>
> The older sysadmin books will be more useful than the medium term
> ones. Going back to 1992 era Unix sysadmin will let you see the
> system before it got more flexible and more complicated.  Looking at
> books for Redhat 6.2 -7.3 books when you're working on 8.0 will drive
> you mad because the new stuff is changing rapidly, and the underlying
> architecture is generally not explained in detail.
>
> Alan

I agree with what Alan says here. GUI related stuff also gets dated 
quite quickly. There are still plenty of old Unix books which are still 
useful. Some may be dated, but if they're still in print, they've stood 
the test of time. I still regularly refer to two books I bought in 
1990: "The AWK Programming Language" by Aho, Kernighan and Weinberger 
and "Unix Programming Environment" by Kernighan and Pike.

Perhaps we should start building up a recommended Unix and Linux Book 
list to put on the GLLUG web pages...  I know there are plenty of sites 
which make recommendations, but maybe we could start by only having 
books which people actually have.

-- Steve

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