Rating: 
Summary: A great book about Korn shell programming
Review: I gave it 5 stars partially because it was given just 1 star unjustly by a few reviewers. From a number of complaining reviews, one realizes that the book title is little misleading. It's not a book for a true beginner wanting to read about "simple" examples of shell programs and looking for detailed explanations line by line. This book is concise, to the point, and really explains "Korn" shell's features. Even as early as chapter 4 about Korn shell basics, things are explained that a long-time shell programmers may not know. If you do and have done serious, real world Korn shell programming, you'll appreciate it.There were also complains about hard to find things in the book. But from my experience, it's not the case if one really reads it from cover to cover and unerstands the topics presented chapter by chapter. I agree that the book may not be a great reference book, but it was not written as one.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but no reference (by far)
Review: I got this book because I needed to learn Korn Shell programming right away, and that is just what it did. When I got to a point where I didn't need the book for a few weeks and put it down. I then needed it again, and had trouble searching the book for what I wanted. Thus, then, therefore, and in conclusion this is no reference book. But an excellent read.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book, but has some flaws
Review: I have owned this book since 1996 and I used it as my introduction to Korn shell programming. To the credit of the book, I was able to become very adept at Korn shell and I have written some amazing scripts. However, I must admit that some sections of this book are misleading, confusing and downright incomprehensible. It took many re-readings of some chapters before the author's lesson was brought to light. I would recommend this book as a Korn shell reference, but it is probably not the best place to start for a Korn shell beginner. I am finding this to be true for a lot of the books by O'Reilly & Associates.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant - It made my brain hurt!
Review: I loved it. It was written in an informative yet concise manner making it essential that a lot of care and skipping around was done whilst absorbing the information. It really made my head hurt with the sheer mental exertion. A smoke is highly recommended after reading. (I honestly think it's worth 4 stars though)
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Introduction
Review: I purchased this book when I started administering unix systems. It is a wonderful introduction to scripting. Though it could be stronger when explaining the conditional operators and global functions, you can start using it immediately.
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, but this book was awful
Review: I wanted to learn Korn Shell programming, so a coworker recommended "Learning the Korn Shell." Big mistake, although I have since forgiven him! I was driven to tears by its lack of examples and corresponding output, meandering disorganization, and dull-as-dirt prose. Having the unusual distinction of possessing both literature and computer science degrees, I am a very tough "critic" of books like these that do not present the material in a clear, organized, terse, and understandable fashion. The bottom line is that I could not learn the Korn Shell from reading this book. Instead, I highly recommend Barry Rosenberg's KornShell Programming Tutorial.
Rating:
Summary: A good "hands-in" book on ksh scripting
Review: I've been a sysadmin for a while, and I was scripting before I picked up this book, but my scripts have improved and grown in complexity and in comprehension. The book covers the material thoroughly, but without getting dull and dry. The examples may or may not be applicable to what your specific needs are at the time, but they serve to illustrate the point that's being made at the time, and they change as more information is introduced. A good index is one of the selling points of any technical book for me, because it predicts how quickly I can find the information I'm looking for when I need it. This one's pretty good. It covers the subject thoroughly, and if you get confused, entering and using the examples from the book will give good practice.
Rating: 
Summary: Not ideal, but has most of the information you need
Review: I've been using this book for a while and since I am pretty familiar with it, the rather odd organization and hit-and-miss indexing aren't as much of a problem as they were. So since I know where to start looking for the information I need, this book is very handy now. I find that although the prose style is not exciting, it is clear and definite (I don't find myself wondering, "Did they mean *this* or *that*?"). The bottom line is that if you are willing to make yourself use the book long enough to get a feel for it, it will be a very useful reference. However, it would be much better if the familiarization period were unnecessary.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent beginner book
Review: If you are new to the Korn Shell then this is a great buy. Start here to learn Flow Control, Regular Expressions, I/O and command-line processing, background job referencing, and debugging. This text also covers basic emacs and Vi operations as well as ways to customize your environment in UNIX. I picked this book up as a supplement to learning UNIX. The index proved helpful when I was learning a new command or searching for a solution to my problem. I like the book because it is easier to use than trying to scour the web for solutions. This book will at least narrow the task and help you know what to look for on the web.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent beginner book
Review: If you are new to the Korn Shell then this is a great buy. Start here to learn Flow Control, Regular Expressions, I/O and command-line processing, background job referencing, and debugging. This text also covers basic emacs and Vi operations as well as ways to customize your environment in UNIX. I picked this book up as a supplement to learning UNIX. The index proved helpful when I was learning a new command or searching for a solution to my problem. I like the book because it is easier to use than trying to scour the web for solutions. This book will at least narrow the task and help you know what to look for on the web.
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