Customer Reviews
good book and hard to read - By: Mr. Aladdin Alkindy, 23 Apr 2008 
Before you buy this book you should have good knowledge of UNIX/Linux system. I am new to bash programming & before I read this book, I wouldn't know the difference between bash & shell however I have used mac ox tiger as well as I have been using Ubuntu Linux for more than two years I had done some basic Perl programming for the web which helped me while reading this book. The book starts with basic bash & then goes into the deep. I found it hard to read not because the writer hasn't done a good job, but because the subject is very complex. unfortunately the book is not for beginners as the writer will show you the command & will explain its logic & that's it. don't assume the writer will tell you for example open the terminal & type the following , etc. the book is straight forward bashing bash.it is very rich in contents. it fluently made me understand how piping works. When you come from the windows world to Linux how painful it is to do things in Linux that only takes a click of a button in windows. However I have used the command line to installl, remove & do basic shell scripting without realizing that what i was doing is a shell programming yet I realized how much I am missing . I will be studying this book for a year or so, having read alll of it, the book gave me two very important scripts that i will be using very often & they are:
1- parsing HTML files & 2-creating a web album automaticallly from a directory that contains hundreds of images. I can't imagine myself creating web albums manuallly nor using ide tools such as dream weaver (windows) bluefish(Linux) any more. The script is by far more powerful than any GUI tools (targeting programmer), in relation to speed or even layout(with a few modification to the original script) The book is full of tips, the question is can you understand them alll(it will take time depends on how much you already know). also the book helped me to understand compressing & decompressing files (tarbal, gz zip etc). I am glad I bought this book however I will have to do some googling in order to get the most out of this book.This book has extended its usability by providing a appendix at the back that can be used as a quick reference. If you know your way around Linux command then this book will give a clear idea of what those commands mean & how to use them. If you are an advanced user this book is full of tips & it is very logical. If you haven't used the command line before then this book is not a good start.
Note
Because I don't know much about C so the most useful language I found is Perl in relation to bash. Bash has borrowed lots from C & bash is the default shell in Ubuntu hardy the operating system I currently use. Also bash can be integrated into windows system via cygwin. Good luck
Bashscripts.org - Review of "bash Cookbook" - By: Dave Crouse, 02 Jul 2007 I had been waiting "im"-patiently for this book to show up. Ever since I noticed it was going to be written, I had been looking forward to reading it. I must say, I wasn't disappointed. I reallly enjoyed the book & definitely learned a few new things along the way.
This book is designed for intermediate to advanced bash users. The book states in the preface that it is for "new" users as well as those more experienced. I think that they give too much credit to someone new too bash. If you don't know what bash scripting is, this book ISN'T for you. Try the book "Learning the Bash Shell", it would be much better to learn from. I'll say it one more time -- This book isn't for those new to shell scripting. In my opinion, it kind of picks up where "Learning the Bash Shell" & "Classic Shell Scripting" from O'reilly left off. It compliments both books pretty well. Where "Learning the Bash Shell" teaches you the basics, & "Classic Shell Scripting" builds on the concepts & materials covered in the chapter before, so it's a book that is best read front to back & not just used as a reference, this book is truly more of a reference that you can use to find solutions to different problems. Hence the "cookbook" in the title.
As an intermediate to advanced user, you will find many of the solutions very simple & straightforward, but I dare say, you will find a few new twists & solutions that you might not have thought of otherwise. When used a reference, it provides a nice Table of Contents with good descriptions that alllow you to quickly find answers to many common problems. Examples are clear, concise, & well documented, making it fairly easy to follow along, even if you didn't understand the syntax of the code at first. I liked the fact they included many examples of sed,awk, & even ed, which are frequently used in shell scripting, but many books barely mention those programs.
The Appendix sections (A-E) take up 83 pages of the book, several of these could very well have just been additional chapters of the book. Appendix E "Building bash from Source" could have been chapter 1. However, each chapter/section is a "recipe" so I suppose it wouldn't have been in line with the rest of the chapters at that point. All in alll, a very interesting book that I read front to back. It will be a valuable reference tool, that's easy to navigate & use. The chapters I enjoyed the most were Chapter 14 "Writing Secure Shell Scripts", where they included a template for quick reference. Several of the techniques I already knew about, a few I did not. I also liked Chapter 11 "Working with Dates & Times". Many good ideas there, & some very interesting code for the "date -d" command.
There are 3 great books for shell scripters from O'reilly, this is one of them.
For the beginner "Learning the Bash Shell". It teaches you the basics.
For the intermediate user "Classic Shell Scripting". It builds on the basics, step by step.
For the intermeidate to advanced users "bash Cookbook". A reference guide for common problems.
I would probably recommend reading them in that order as well. "bash Cookbook" is definitely going to be easier to read & get use of if you already know basic shell scripting. All 3 books have that "tattered" look & a permanent place on my bookshelf. I would say, "bash Cookbook" is absolutely a book worth owning if you enjoy shell scripting. I don't think I've ever seen a more complete set of solutions in a shell scripting book. In the preface, one thing that caught my eye ..... But perhaps most importantly, we hope that when you have a question about how to do something or you need a hint, you will be able to easily find the right answer--or something close enough-- & save time & effort. ------ I think they accomplished their goal ! 5 out of 5. Excellent book...excellent.
Dave Crouse
Bashscripts.org http://bashscripts.org
USA Linux Users Group http://usalug.org
