Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th edition with source code

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

This record preserves its author, date and source link. Open HN to read the full context.

… on the IBM 1130 in the fall of 1977. I realized there had to be a better way and so I went straight to the library and read up on the software engineering of the time ("structured programming"). Since then I've read a lot on the practice of programming and applied it to my programming. And kept reading and applying stuff; the key here is to never stop learning. Studying good software was probably the other major way. Back then, it was learning the UNIX V6 kernel with Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th Edition, with Source Code plus reading the sources of all sorts of things and working on some of them. If you haven't read The Pragmatic Programmer , AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis , something by Gerald Weinberg and something by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister ( Peopleware is pretty much required reading…

Back in 1980 K&R didn't really work well for me beyond the most basic things, the Lions' Commentary on UNIX 6th Edition, with Source Code did the trick, and it will teach you some basic operating system and UNIX things that are still quite useful. A classic, it's a copy of V6 UNIX with (the first really widely distributed one) including a few device drivers with lots of excellent commentary. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions%27_Commentary_on_UNIX_6th... for online copies. The best reference manual is C: A Reference Manual by Harbison and Steele, http://www.amazon.com/Reference-Manual-Samuel-P-Harbison/dp/... If you like Guy Steele style language reference manuals (e.g. Scheme, Common Lisp, Java) you'll like this; they wrote it for the CMU compiler spinoff Tartan Labs so there would be a rigorous reference. Bluesmoon's suggested books…