December 2002
Randal L. SchwartzWhen you’re a Perl programmer, you never fret about those little ugly tasks that creep up. Perl can deal with file wrangling, text manipulation, and process management in a way unequaled by any other single language, whether open source or proprietary.
Randal L. SchwartzPerl is great at parsing data and bringing it into memory-based data structures for reformatting or analysis (“data reduction”). One of Perl’s features that permits relatively easy creation of complex data structures is “auto-vivification” — a mouthful to say, but it roughly means “data structures get expanded as necessary”.
Ben RothkeA doctrine of the open source movement is that although the software is free, you have to pay for the support and documentation. While anyone can go to ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/ and get the Red Hat Linux software for free, books on Linux or other open source topics will cost the reader money. But for readers who are willing to shell out $50 for a book about Linux security, Red Hat Linux Security and Optimization is a good overview on the core concepts of Linux security and how to secure, optimize, and harden Red Hat.
Joe "Zonker" BrockmeierEver wonder what the difference is between the various flavors of BSD? Read on for an overview of FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD.
Joe "Zonker" BrockmeierLast month, I started talking about groupware for *nix systems. I suppose I should have known that this is a pretty hot topic. I got plenty of response from readers who have their own favorite groupware applications and suites that run on Linux and other Unix-type systems.
Ben RothkeOne of the goals of Unix was to be a universal operating system. While Unix has achieved a level of ubiquitousness unparalleled in information systems, the fact remains that with hundreds of different flavors of Unix, getting a handle on the operating system is no easy feat.
Marcel GagnéMandrake Linux has always been looked at as a desktop Linux. While Red Hat may be the star of the corporate server world, Mandrake's star rests
firmly with the legion of Linux users who have abandoned the Windows world for their desktop needs. For Mandrake users, there hasn't been any
question of whether Linux is ready for the desktop — Mandrake is, has been, and continues to be. The loyalty and enthusiasm of the Mandrake
community speaks volumes. It is with this knowledge that I embark on my review of Mandrake 9.0.
Cameron Laird and Kathryn SoraizYorick is fun.
Yorick is an "Interpreted Scientific Programming Language". One user, meteorologist Hugh Pumphrey of the University of Edinburg, explains it as "like
interpreted C with graphics". The payoff for Yorick users is the ease with which they can make such pictures as this diagram of the airflow and pressure
regime past a simple airfoil. Scientists justly find these gorgeous.
Marcel GagnéFrequent contributor Marcel Gagné reviews Red Hat 8.0.
Emmett DulaneyAlthough during the past year or so, we've seen a number of Web sites close shop and disappear, we've also seen those sites
that survived grow larger and more complex. Several years ago, it was accepted that Web sites could be somewhat clunky
and amateurish; today, however, the competion demands more.
Joe "Zonker" BrockmeierThis month, I'm writing about two programs that I find fairly useful -- one I've been using every day since I discovered it, and the other I only need to
use occasionally when I'm testing hardware.
Alan Eldridge and Ed SchaeferHave you had the need to copy or move a large block of files, maybe many hundreds of megabytes, from one place to another? Or even just a small
directory tree, but you want it done fast. This month, Alan Eldridge presents his cpt script, which can help copy or move large blocks of files.
Joe "Zonker" BrockmeierIt's been a while since I took a look at Slackware, so I thought it might be time to fire up 8.1 and give a full report. In this article, I'll also take a look at what's going to be in the upcoming version of Slackware.
Emmett DulaneyLast month, I introduced the changes that the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) has implemented to their Level One exams. To become certified at this level, you must pass two exams (101 and 102). The new versions, known as Release 2, are now the only ones available, and the original versions are retired completely (except in Japanese).
Emmett DulaneyBorder Gateway Protocol (BGP) has been elevated to the protocol-de-jour in many circles. Wanting to understand the topic in depth, I turned to a book with a title simple enough to imply that it was a comprehensive reference on the topic. I was not disappointed.
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