shell books review

[Jim Joyce]

                 Books on Shell:  An Annotated Guide


                              Jim Joyce

                     Jim Joyce's UNIX* Bookstore
                          47 Potomac Street
                       San Francisco, CA 94117
                            (415) 626-7581





Using this Guide

This is a guide to learning the UNIX shell.  The  focus  is  on  book-
length  treatment of either the Bourne or C shell, though I do mention
some other books that use the shell  in  particularly  interesting  or
useful ways.  Except for Bourne, I omit introductory UNIX books.

** indicates the best book of its type.

Introductory Shell                   ** UNIX Shell Programming Stephen
                                     G  Kochan  and  Patrick  H  Wood,
** UNIX C Shell Field Guide  Gail    1985, 422pp ($24.95).   The  best
Anderson and Paul Anderson, 1986,    single  book on shells.  Emphasis
374pp   ($23.95).     The    most    is on Bourne shell, with chapters
thorough  treatment  of  C  shell    on  C shell and Korn shell.  Cov-
available.                           ers shell functions.

UNIX Shell Programming Lowell Jay    The   UNIX   Shell    Programming
Arthur,   1986,  261pp  ($22.95).    Language  Rod  Manis  and  Marc H
Good   presentation   of   Bourne    Meyer,  1986,   300pp   ($24.95).
shell.  Covers shell functions.      Bourne  shell  is the focus, with
                                     chapters on System V shell,  Korn
The  UNIX  System  V  Environment    shell,  and C shell.  Part V con-
Stephen  R  Bourne,  1986,  378pp    sists of 76 pages of  VERY  handy
($23.95).   Updates  his  popular    shell scripts written as a set of
The  UNIX  System.   Chapter  8's    manual pages.  Also treats  named
scripts are  stellar,  especially    pipes.
the tennis ladder.



_________________________
c 1986 by Jim Joyce.  Permission to reprint this in its
entirety  is granted so long as author's name, affilia-
tion, address, and phone number are included.
*UNIX is a Registered Trademark of AT&T


Advanced  Programmer's  Guide  to
UNIX  System  V  Rebecca  Thomas,
Lawrence R Rogers and Jean Yates,
1986,   575pp  ($21.95).   Treats
Bourne and C shell.

Intermediate Shell

** The UNIX Programming  Environ-
ment  Brian  W  Kernighan and Rob
Pike,   1984,   357pp   ($22.95).
Must-read for serious UNIX users.
Well written and insightful.

Shell for System Administration

UNIX System Administration  David
Fiedler and Bruce H Hunter, 1986,
320pp ($24.95).   Chock  full  of
useful scripts.

UNIX System  Security  Patrick  H
Wood  and Stephen G Kochan, 1985,
299pp ($34.95).  Appendices  have
valuable Bourne shell scripts.