Programming with POSIX Threads

I am a system-architect not a programmer, nevertheless I ask myself why on earth did I not buy this book sooner?It is a well-written reference copiously supplied with examples.The author seems very well versed in all aspects of systems programming including of course pthreads.If you are interested in (POSIX) asynchronous and real-time programming, Butenhof's "Programming with POSIX Threads" and Gallmeister's "POSIX.4 Programming for the Real World" would make great additions to your personal library.

Book is in very good condition.

I found this book very useful when learning about POSIX threads though the whole impression is a bit mixed.The book gives everything you need to start writing POSIX-style multithreaded applications. Very complicated (in my opinion) issues of multithreading are explained very clearly. Every new concept is immediately illustrated with a sample code.The appendix contains a detailed description of all mentioned pthread functions, so you can use it as a reference too.At the same time I am not sure if book is completely up-to-date. E.g., in chapter 7 the author explains in details what is a read/write lock and presents a code with a mutex and 2 condition variables to use as an r/w lock. In the appendix he says that r/w lock can be incorporated into POSIX as a separate entity in future. I work with Solaris 8 and I found that r/w locks are already in my POSIX library.The style of book is quite special, you may love it, or you may hate it. Sometimes the very basic concepts are explained in such a way and with so repetitions that it becomes even a bit annoying. Those bailing programmers are also a bit annoying. Quotes from Lewis Carroll seem a bit off topic too. Of course it's just my opinion.In general I think the book worth its money and recommend it to everyone interested in the subject.Prerequisites are simple: knowledge of C and general POSIX. E.g., I recommend a book by Mr. Gallmeister on real-time (non-multithreading) POSIX.

Good state.

Great book on posix, book review will be made here in the future.

Good quality

This book is great for beginners in Posix. It is detailed and clear. It gives careful explanation of the major Posix functions and complement them with full source codes which compiles perfectly, making everything easier to understand.

I started reading this book in 2000 when I already had programming experiences with threads (Linux/SUN/SGI/Windows thread packages). This book is very helpful to improve my understanding of threads overall (not only Posix threads which is the focal point of the book).The most difficult part of thread programming is synchronization. This is where most problems arise in reality and most of this book's focus is on. The author clearly starts with various versions of implementation using different techniques (wrong or right) to help readers gain more knowledge. This (unlike one other reviewers claims to be confusing) is good writing style in my mind.There may be some misunderstanding from other reviewers too. One claims mutex is associated with both data and code. But mutex should always be associated with data (to protect data's coherency and consistency) and I don't see the book tries to associated that with code (its usage is certainly always in the form of code, which is the only way to use it). Another claims there is no downloadable code, which is wrong. The appendix of the book clearly states the URL of the downloadable source sample code (also include errata of the book). (...)The book is not without problems. The main issue I think is lack of introduction to popular Posix thread implementation. Almost no Posix thread implementation strictly conforms to the standard (this is also why some code in the book may not run readily on some implementation - make no mistake, most do). It will be helpful to explain different issues under different implementations and how to deal with it. The other thing is I found one minor problem with one sample code - it uses pthread_t type to do integer comparison which is discouraged by the author himself (this strikes one peculiarity of Posix standard: it uses opaque type for pthread_t, instead of scalar type which is very convenient to do such comparison in reality. Even the author as member of the standard committee is lured to do that).Overall, I think the book is worth at least 4 star and the money.

It is an advanced textbook on multi threaded pgms in c. If some is also working on c++, and wants to learn underlying posix c threaded architecture, then this is the best book as a reference. Before buying ensure that you know os fundamentals.

I bought this book in good conditions but received as new.As always with this seller, very happy

Excellent book

David R. Butenhof is one of the developers of POSIX Threads and thus, knows just about everything on the topic. He gives practical programming advice and understandable examples. Even though I'm already familiar with multithreading, I learn something new every time I read it, so although it's quite expensive - it is definitely worth its price! This book has the reputation of being THE book about POSIX threads for a reason!

Great Book but not for beginners. Advanced text.