learning on our own

[Tom]

hi all,

i just read the FreeBSD Newbies FAK again. something came to mind about a book 
that i have been reading.

there is a book called _Understanding Unix/Linux Programming:  A Guide to 
Theory and Practice_.  it was written by Bruce Molay.  it covers unix system 
programming from the beginning system programmer's perspective.

generally, a book like this is not for newbies.  it does require that you have 
some experience with the c programming language.  so, why do i mention this?  

this book is absolutely BEAUTIFUL for learning the Unix Way.  it introduces 
basic system programming concepts by showing the reader how to write common 
unix programs like ls.  in my opinion, understanding the building blocks of 
unix is essential for understanding how to get unix to behave in a way that 
you like.

what i find so neat about the book is that it teaches you how to ask questions 
of unix...and get the answers.  you literally learn how to research a problem 
with this book.  it divides up the problems up as follows:  1) "what does the 
unix program do?"  ( like ls ), 2) "how does the program ls do it?" and 3) 
"can i write ls?"  this is great because he shows you how to investigate the 
problem and find the answer on the system--usually through reading the online 
manuals and observing the behavior of the program.

remember, computers are dumber than blades of grass!  but, if programmed 
properly, they will tell you what they want.  so, if you are seeing an error 
on the screen, it's really telling you what it wanted ( but it may look like 
gibberish ).  it's up to you to reseach the "gibberish" in order to solve the 
problem.  that means you actually have to read the error ( sometimes even 
save it )...because there may be keywords in the error that you can use in 
your search.

needless to say, being able to investigate a problem and build your own answer 
is essential in unix...regardless of the problem...from web servers to 
configuring a boot loader.  as i go through the book and look at the 
problems, i go through this procedure...and i learn more about what goes on 
behind the scenes.  reading the online help ( man-pages ) is humbling, but 
you really start to get a feel for how unix works.

i HIGHLY recommend that most newbies at least read the first several chapters.  
you will become familiar with the paradigm.  skip the code if you have to;  
you can also just read the program comments.  the goal is to understand how 
to research a problem, not necessarily code in c.  molay puts lots of 
comments in the code, so you won't get lost.

i cannot stress this point enough:  if you use the problem solving techniques 
shown in this book, you can solve any problem that you come across on your 
bsd system.

good luck and happy hacking!

--tom

GAIM:  cREbralFIX
yahoo messenger:  cREbralFIX
www.linuxtechies.org ( yes, one of them! )