Is the Unix Power Tools book still relevant today?

Question

I was wondering if the Unix Power Tools book, Third edition, is still relevant today? I want to order it but I am afraid it contains only outdated material.

If so, is there a recent similar book?

Solution 1

Absolutely. I find it useful for learning key concepts in Unix that may not be that obvious when you're first starting out.

• shells
• man pages
• pipes
• sed/awk
• Perl/Python

When first starting out with Unix most of these are pretty foreign and a book like this is invaluable. I've had mine since the 2nd edition and it's pretty worn out at this point.

The 3rd edition is the latest one of this book it's circa 2002 but it's still completely relevant. Browse through the Amazon comments if you need more proof.

http://www.amazon.com/Unix-Power-Tools-Third-Edition/dp/B00CVE49F0

Solution 2

It had some neat tricks that are still relevant. Having said that, I have been learning a lot just looking at the questions and answers on this forum and Stack Overflow.

Comments

[Admin]

All the concepts and especially the POSIX stuff is still there. I suppose a Unix book that outdates as much that you wouldn't want to read/have anymore wasn't even worth buying when its brand new.

[Admin]

I have UNIX Power Tools First Edition and it is still useful.

[Admin]

It's relevant, but for the most part I've found that browsing this site is a better investment of time and generally gives you "deeper" knowledge. Besides, you can read Unix Power Tools online.