BOOKS: Advanced UNIX(TM) Programming; Systems Software Tools

[John P. Linderman]

> I have not read Advanced UNIX (TM) Programming by Marc J. Rochkind,
> but I do know some of his background:
> 
> 	Marc J. Rochkind helped write the UNIX re-implementation of SCCS
> 
> and he's still proud of it (unbowed and unrepentant), judging from his
> recent advertising.  (SCCS originally ran on MVS or MVT, as I recall,
> and was rewritten for PWB.)  If this means nothing to you, try reading
> the SCCS sources or manuals or try using SCCS.

And I suppose Thomas Edison was a fool because you have a better sounding
turntable than he did.  I don't care a lot for SCCS, but it's a whole lot
better than nothing, which is what was available when Marc came up with
the idea.  SCCS has been through a lot of hands since Marc let go of it,
so if you don't like the style, you'd better be pretty sure who's
responsible before you lay it at Marc's doorstep.

Not only are slurs via SCCS unjustified, they are irrelevant.  People
asked about the book, not for a history of the author.  I have read
much of the book, and it's top rate.  It's rather better suited to
Xenix and System V users than to 4.2 folks (4.2 directories and file
systems don't look like Marc describes them, for example), but I'd
recommend it without hesitation even to Berkelers.  It'll take much
less time to recover from such minor inaccuracies than it would take to
rediscover the useful information that Marc presents.

John P. Linderman  allegra!jpl