Anonymous
Posted October 7, 2004
I'm not sure about the 'definitive' claim in the book's title. But after reading the book, I'm quite willing to grant that the authors have indeed done a thorough job. The book calls to mind the now classic series on Internetworking, by Comer and Stevens in the early 90s. If you've been in this game long enough, you know exactly what I mean. Of course, Comer and Stevens were looking at unix boxes hooked to the Internet. But, as you can see in this book, linux network programming carries over very closely to those unix versions. And both use what is basically the same IPv4, despite the massive physical buildout of the Internet. The book's code is unabashedly C. No cute user interface to trip over. It can test your knowledge of C quite well. Partly because the coding and handling of network calls is deliberately low level. Using the book's approach, you can get a fine grained appreciation of how to talk across the Internet. Higher level languages like Java and C# come with network libraries that deliberately hide a lot of this detail. Which is good for many applications. But sometimes you might need the performance and control that this book offers.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
More About This Textbook
Overview
The Definitive Guide to Linux Network Programming offers a clear, concise treatment of creating clients and servers under the Linux operating system. This book assumes that you know C and have experience developing code on Linux, but it provides everything else you'll need as a programmer for real-world network programming.
Whether you’re a Windows developer looking to expand to Linux, or you’re a proficient Linux developer looking to incorporate client-server programming into your applications, this book has a wealth of invaluable information to suit your needs.
This book covers design, implementation, debugging, and security. You’ll also learn about the many kinds of socket types, sessioned versus sessionless protocols, and encryption, as well as how to build a custom protocol, how to use SSL, and how to tunnel data.
Table of Contents
Product Details
Related Subjects
Meet the Author
Nathan Yocom has worn many hats in the IT industry over the years. He currently works as a software engineer for Bynari, Inc., specializing in messaging and groupware software. With a bachelor's degree in computer science from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, Nathan is also the cofounder of XPA Systems (http://www.xpasystems.com) and author of pGina, an open source program that simplifies the Windows logon process by providing for the authentication of a user via many different methods. In his spare time, in addition to playing the guitar and an occasional round of golf, Nathan enjoys spending time with his wife, Katie.
John Turner is an application developer and systems administrator in Detroit, Michigan, supporting the advertising and marketing campaigns of Fortune 50 clients. With over two decades of computer experience, John has designed and administered high-availability and fault-tolerant systems for the automotive, health care, and advertising industries. He coauthored the Apache Tomcat Security Handbook and is an Apache Group committer. He holds a bachelor's degree in information systems. John's industry interests include vintage hardware, open source, mobile computing, and wireless networking. His outside interests include farming, DIY projects, dogs, history, recycling, tattoos, travel, and music composition.
Keir Davis was first exposed to programming at the age of 12, when his father brought home a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A. Keir has been programming ever since and now holds a master's degree in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Today, Keir is the owner of Xtern Software (http://www.xternsoftware.com), a provider of custom software development services to manufacturers around the world. Keir and his wife, Jennifer, live with their two dogs, Tess and Maggie, in North Carolina. When not sitting in front of a computer, Keir enjoys playing racquetball.
Table of Contents