In this second edition, the authors have updated Glass’s usefultutorial and reference [1] to reflect the current state of the Unixoperating system and the future of Unix as a universal operating system.The book is divided into 15 chapters, which cover the foundations ofUnix, the different shell languages, networking and the Internet, C andsystems programming, internals and administration, and the future ofUnix.

The authors suggest several reading tracks according to the type ofuser, from casual user to wizard. In my opinion, the book can be usefulas a reference for casual or nontechnical users and as a good startingpoint for analysts or operators who want to develop software under Unixor want to become Unix experts.

Each chapter includes a checklist of the concepts covered, a quiz,and suggested exercises and projects. This material will be very usefulif the book is being used as a self-paced tutorial or as supportmaterial for an introductory course in operating systems.

The nomenclature used is simple and easy to follow, and the figuresand diagrams are excellent, but the bibliography, while quite complete,is presented in a format that is not standard for this kind of book;starting with the title instead of the author and omitting the year ofpublication are poor choices. The index is complete, allowing the bookto be used as a command, concept, or tool reference.

Unfortunately, the book lacks coverage of the use of C, Perl, orthe shell to write Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts in the contextof the Web. These languages are in common use for Web-based programming,and one or two examples of their use would have been valuable; the“Internet shell” presented in chapter 12 is a good startingpoint but a little far from the real needs of the Internet programmer.In contrast, the systems programming chapter is excellent, covering thebasic concepts and including key examples of routines essential forday-to-day administration of Unix.