BKUNULIE.RVW   980205

"UNIX Unleashed, Internet Edition", Robin K. Burk/David B. Horvath,
1997, 0-672-31205-0, U$59.99/C$84.95/UK#54.95
%A   Robin K. Burk robink@wizard.net
%A   David B. Horvath 
%C   201 W. 103rd Street, Indianapolis, IN   46290
%D   1997
%G   0-672-31205-0
%I   Macmillan Computer Publishing (MCP)
%O   U$59.99/C$84.95/UK#54.95 800-858-7674 317-581-3743 info@mcp.com
%P   1114 p. + CD-ROM
%T   "UNIX Unleashed, Internet Edition"

Following on from "UNIX Unleashed, System Administrator's Edition"
(cf. BKUNULSA.RVW):

Given that this volume is the net edition, I was a bit surprised that
chapter one of part one was "Graphical User Interfaces for End Users." 
Since the first volume was the sysadmin edition, did that really make
this the user edition?  The fun edition?  However, on consideration,
the inclusion of GUI (Graphical User Interface) information is quite
logical.  Net work, with the increasing rise of the Web, has a growing
involvement with multimedia, and networking overall involves a lot of
multitasking, which is easier to manage in a graphical environment. 
Chapter two presents GUI programming information.

Part two continues with programming, starting with the vi and emacs
text editors in chapter three.  Vi gets quite thorough coverage while
emacs is really only introduced.  (A full treatment of emacs would
likely have added significantly to the size of the book.)  Chapter
four introduces querying and reporting with awk, and five moves into
more general programming with Perl.  The look at C and C++ in chapter
six is really only a prelude.  Oddly, it does not concentrate on the
operational aspects of program compilation, which might be more
generally helpful.  Chapter seven, on make, does.

Chapter eight starts off part three's text formatting and printing
with a look at troff and nroff.  Chapter nine extends their usefulness
with macros, and ten shows you how to build your own macros. 
Additional writing tools such as preprocessors, spell, grammatical
aids, grep, and the Source Code Control System (SCCS) are covered in
chapter eleven.

Security garners only three chapters in part four, and therefore the
material can't be exhaustive.  Chapter twelve, on risks and UNIX
security in general, is both good and bad.  Burke knows the difference
between a hacker and a cracker, but doesn't realize that sophisticated
operating systems do not reduce the possibility of viral infection. 
The Internet worm was a virus by all but the most stringent
definitions.  Security policies, in chapter thirteen, quickly covers
some technical areas as well.  The security organizations listed in
chapter fourteen can provide a wealth of wealth of resources and help. 
However, this part of the book could definitely use some expansion.

The Internet specifics in part five start with a basic guide to HTML
(HyperText Markup Language) in chapter fifteen.  The inclusion of MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) in chapter sixteen is a bit
odd since a) you don't need to know about MIME if your mailer handles
it OK, and b) there isn't enough detail to do anything about it if
your mailer doesn't handle MIME.  Chapters seventeen through twenty
look at the inclusion of interactive material on Web pages with CGI
(Common Gateway Interface) forms and shell scripts, Perl, and C/C++. 
After all that, chapter twenty one is a detailed, but not terribly
good explanation of HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol).  Chapter
twenty two discusses the monitoring of Web server activity.  Part five
really only looks at the Web, therefore, rather than the Internet as a
whole.

Part six takes us back to programming (mostly) with source control,
and chapters on revision control, RCS (Revision Control System), CVS
(Concurrent Versions System), and SCCS.  Part seven gives us the FAQs
(Frequently Asked Questions lists) for AIX, BSD (Berkeley Software
Distribution), HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, SVR4, and IRIX.

As with the system administration volume, the content and organization
have improved a good deal over the first edition.  There is a wealth
of useful material here, as well as the occasional problem.  While not
an easy tutorial, this is a solid reference for the intermediate and
advanced user.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998   BKUNULIE.RVW   980205