As someone who's programmed on Unix for many years, I've known about esr for some time, and probably should thank him for being part of a chorus that encouraged me to learn things like Lisp. That said, my honest opinion of this book is that it's a waste of paper and approximately the quality of a typical esr blog post.
First of all, this book is not really about Unix programming. A full half of it is dedicated to rehashing the Unix philosophy, history, and community. Yes, these topics should come up, but at some point I want to read about Unix programming, which is why I am reading a book with that phrase in the title. None of this stuff has anything to do with programming, and is just as applicable to end users.
The other half is supposedly programming related, but upon closer inspection, mostly isn't. Major topics include things like tools, config file formats, and a lot of general stuff that applies in non-Unix development too (like VCS and network protocols). Where's the system programming tips, POSIX standards, standard libraries, ioctl, BSD sockets, security considerations, and any number of hundreds of other things anyone who's programmed on a Unix-variant encounters? Yes, the book claims to not want to talk about these things, but guess what, that's what Unix programming is all about.
Languages (you know, the thing you actually program in) are completely glossed over, except to just list a few common ones. Half of the ones mentioned are so portable, that programmers in them can ignore OS peculiarities the vast majority of the time (Java, Python, Emacs Lisp). C, C++, and shell are very tightly coupled to Unix, and much could have been said here, but isn't. Instead of code, we're treated to reams of config file examples and other filler.
The various aspects of The Unix Way could have been stated in a single chapter. Someone interested in becoming a Unix programmer needs to know where to go to find documentation, what development resources he has available, and other practical things. An MS programmer reading this book would be just as clueless on how to start programming on Unix as before. Go pick up Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment if you want to learn this subject.
Read more…