Books on scripting

Miller67 · 10-17-2008, 08:34 PM

I am going to school and I have a class in Linux and others. But, I am very new at linux and am beggining to like it. My teacher said to start reading and learning about scripting and I wanted to know if there were any recomendations for books? I would like to start getting familar with it because this is the second time that I have heard that scripting is a valuable skill. Thanks for any help

**wmorri** · 10-18-2008, 07:56 AM

Hi,

I am going to guess that you already have a Linux distro. So i won't need to help you with choosing one.

Here is a good online book that covers a lot of the basics and some of the more advanced shell scripting: Linux Shell Scripting Tutorial. If you like that then there are other ones online, just do a google search and you will have a ton.

If online books aren't really your style then you can always get a copy of Learning the bash shell. This is a book that I use and it is wonderful. There are other ones out there too.

Cheers!

Miller67 · 10-18-2008, 08:43 AM

Thank you for the help!

shuuhen · 10-18-2008, 10:29 AM

There are some bash guides on TLDP: http://tldp.org/guides.html

As wmorri said, if you want physical books there are some Learning the <insert shell name here> Shell books. I also use Unix Power Tools and Shell Scripting Recipies. Definitely look at the books before buying them to make sure you like the specific one. Also, your school may have them in their library or a subscription to an online book service.

bash is a common shell for both interactive command line use and for scripting. I've heard the korn shell (ksh, pdksh, etc.) is fairly nice for scripting, but haven't tried it. zsh is also supposed to have some nice scripting features, but I've only used it for interactive use (my favorite shell for that though).

There are also programming languages that you can learn for scripting, like Perl, Python and Ruby. Personally I use Ruby, but I've seen some impressive work done with the other two. I've seen multiple package management systems written mostly in Python.

A Perl expert I worked with said Learning Perl is fantastic, especially if you go through the exercises (even if they seem fairly simple). I haven't had time to learn Perl, so I don't know of much more good learning material.

Ruby's website has some links to documentation (http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/documentation/). Why the Lucky Stiff also made something called Hackety Hack (http://code.whytheluckystiff.net/hacketyhack/) that seems to have an interactive system for learning Ruby.

Miller67 · 10-18-2008, 01:29 PM

Thank you all for the advice.

Now what advice would you give a Linux newbie about which version to use? At school we have been given the fedora 8 i686 to study and learn with. I have seen many others that seem to be a little more "powerful" in features, or so it seems. Thanks agian for showing me the ropes.

10-17-2008, 08:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
Miller67 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 6 OS: Win XP, service pack 2, Fedora 8	Books on scripting I am going to school and I have a class in Linux and others. But, I am very new at linux and am beggining to like it. My teacher said to start reading and learning about scripting and I wanted to know if there were any recomendations for books? I would like to start getting familar with it because this is the second time that I have heard that scripting is a valuable skill. Thanks for any help

10-18-2008, 07:56 AM	#2 (permalink)
wmorri Moderator/Fedora Amb. Join Date: May 2008 Location: /pm/etc Posts: 2,814 OS: Window 7/Fedora 10 My System	Re: Books on scripting Hi, I am going to guess that you already have a Linux distro. So i won't need to help you with choosing one. Here is a good online book that covers a lot of the basics and some of the more advanced shell scripting: Linux Shell Scripting Tutorial. If you like that then there are other ones online, just do a google search and you will have a ton. If online books aren't really your style then you can always get a copy of Learning the bash shell. This is a book that I use and it is wonderful. There are other ones out there too. Cheers! __________________ Linux Forever! Last edited by wmorri; 10-18-2008 at 07:58 AM.

10-18-2008, 08:43 AM	#3 (permalink)
Miller67 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 6 OS: Win XP, service pack 2, Fedora 8	Re: Books on scripting Thank you for the help!

10-18-2008, 10:29 AM	#4 (permalink)
shuuhen Manager Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Colorado Posts: 981 OS: Mac OS 9.1, Mac OS X 10.5.8, WinXP Pro, FreeBSD 6.0, Gentoo Linux My System	Re: Books on scripting There are some bash guides on TLDP: http://tldp.org/guides.html As wmorri said, if you want physical books there are some Learning the <insert shell name here> Shell books. I also use Unix Power Tools and Shell Scripting Recipies. Definitely look at the books before buying them to make sure you like the specific one. Also, your school may have them in their library or a subscription to an online book service. bash is a common shell for both interactive command line use and for scripting. I've heard the korn shell (ksh, pdksh, etc.) is fairly nice for scripting, but haven't tried it. zsh is also supposed to have some nice scripting features, but I've only used it for interactive use (my favorite shell for that though). There are also programming languages that you can learn for scripting, like Perl, Python and Ruby. Personally I use Ruby, but I've seen some impressive work done with the other two. I've seen multiple package management systems written mostly in Python. A Perl expert I worked with said Learning Perl is fantastic, especially if you go through the exercises (even if they seem fairly simple). I haven't had time to learn Perl, so I don't know of much more good learning material. Ruby's website has some links to documentation (http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/documentation/). Why the Lucky Stiff also made something called Hackety Hack (http://code.whytheluckystiff.net/hacketyhack/) that seems to have an interactive system for learning Ruby. __________________ Has it been a few days since I replied to your thread? Don't panic! I'm a busy college student and may forget a post if I'm extra busy (or it might just take me a while to be able to do a decent reply). If you still need help and are awaiting my reply after a few days, PM me about it. When posting what errors you get, please give the full message. It makes helping you much easier.

10-18-2008, 01:29 PM	#5 (permalink)
Miller67 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 6 OS: Win XP, service pack 2, Fedora 8	Re: Books on scripting Thank you all for the advice. Now what advice would you give a Linux newbie about which version to use? At school we have been given the fedora 8 i686 to study and learn with. I have seen many others that seem to be a little more "powerful" in features, or so it seems. Thanks agian for showing me the ropes.