Is the "The UNIX System Interface" chapter of "The C Programming Language" still relevant?

Question

I started reading The C Programming Language and I have now reached "Chapter 8: The UNIX System Interface." Is that chapter worth reading and still relevant as of today?

Answer 1

Yes, Linux systems still have the same API - you can write a program like in the samples and exercises of that chapter and compile and run it on almost any Linux. This boils down to being able to write a program that does real things on a real computer - not some emulator only useful for learning purposes.

Answer 2

It's worth reading if you want to program on UNIX or UNIX-like systems - on those it is still relevant. and like all the other chapters in the book, it isn't very long. Reading the section on implementing a storage allocator will give you some valuable insight into how malloc & free work.

Answer 3

All knowledge is useful - never pass up an opportunity to gain more:) Unix and C have intertwined roots.

Answer 4

Put it this way: if you read it and you find it useless, it's because you already knew the stuff. But you won't know the stuff until you read it.

Something like, "in order to understand recursion you must first understand recursion".

More seriously: read it. It will probably take you less time than waiting for an answer here on StackOverflow; furthermore, alhtough you will probably remember only one tenth of it after a week, you will find it useful on the long run because you will start to get a 'general grasp' of some basic concepts that you will encounter over and over again.

Last but not least: what do you have to lose? :)

Answer 5

Well, it all depends on how you perceive 'reading'. That is, if you 'read' to find a 'short-cut' worrying about 'outdated' is much of a concern than a reality. But if you 'read' for pinning down every bit and converting into an earnest sense of graving understanding, 'outdated' will be the last item popping out of your mind.

Understanding how things 'worked', 'working', and 'will work' specially in computing is like the while(1) loop.

Saying this as a general reaction ( entirely personal by the way), if there are forces of urgency perhaps you may want to start from the project and work all the way backwards to reading- sometimes useful as the chances of reading 'outdated' by then will be almost in existent as you read only the materials of your concern.