There's a lot to be said for going back to basics. Not only does this Bible give you a quick refresher on the structure of open-source Linux software, it also shows you how to bypass the hefty graphical user interface on Linux systems and start interacting the fast and efficient way—with command lines and automated scripts. You'll learn how to manage files on the filesystem, start and stop programs, use databases, even do Web programming—without a GUI—with this one-stop resource.

• Understand the Linux desktop and various command-line parameters

• Learn filesystem navigation, file handling, and the basics of bash shell commands

• Write shell scripts to automate routine functions and reports

• Harness nesting loops and structured commands

• Monitor programs, master file permissions, and make queries

• Run scripts in background mode and schedule jobs

• Use sed, gawk, and regular expressions

• Explore all alternate shells, including ash, tcsh, ksh, korn, and zsh

By the Way notes present interesting pieces of information.

Did You Know? tips offer advice or teach an easier way to do something.

Watch Out! cautions advise you about potential problems and help you steer clear of disaster.

Learn how to...

• Use the powerful design environment of Visual Studio 2008
• Design a feature-rich interface using components such as tree views and tabs
• Create robust applications using modern error handling
• Draw fast graphics using GDI+
• Build a database application using ADO.NET
• Distribute a Visual C# 2008 application

James Foxall is vice president of Tigerpaw Software, Inc. (www.tigerpawsoftware.com), a Bellevue, Nebraska, Microsoft Certified Partner specializing in commercial database applications. He manages the development, support, training, and education of Tigerpaw CRM+, an award-winning CRM product designed to automate contact management, marketing, service and repair, proposal generation, inventory control, and purchasing. At the start of 2008, the current release of Tigerpaw CRM+ had more than 16,000 licensed users. Foxall’s experience in creating certified Office-compatible software has made him an authority on application interface and behavior standards of applications for the Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office environments.

Foxall has been writing commercial product code for more than 14 years, in both singleprogrammer and multiple-programmer environments. He’s the author of numerous books, including Practical Standards for Microsoft Visual Basicand MCSD in a Nutshell: The Visual Basic Exams. He also has written articles for Access-Office-VBA Advisorand Visual Basic Programmer’s Journal. Foxall has a bachelor’s degree in management of information systems (MIS). He is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and an international speaker on Microsoft Visual Basic. When not programming or writing about programming, he enjoys spending time with his family, playing guitar, listening to amazing bands like Pink Floyd and OSI, and playing computer games. You can reach him at www.jamesfoxall.com/forums.Introduction

"Patrick is a pragmatist with a purist's knowledge. He has a deep understanding of what 'smells' right, and he knows when and how to find the right balance to get the job done. This philosophy of balanced 'pure pragmatism' pervades this book and makes it useful."
—from the foreword by Scott Hanselman, Author of ComputerZen Blog, www.computerzen.com; Senior Program Manager, Developer Division, Microsoft Corporation

Writing code is rewarding, but writing high-quality code, on time and at the lowest possible cost, is what makes a software project successful. As the role of a professional developer has evolved and taken on additional responsibilities, it is now necessary to work in concert with a team in order to improve both the process and final results of a software project. This unique book introduces a set of concrete best practices and construction techniques that can be applied to the development process and to actual code construction, so that you can confidently solve business problems rather than deal solely with pure coding tasks.

Patrick Cauldwell understands that it is no longer sufficient to just write software that solves a problem; it must also be fast, scalable, reliable, and easy to use. In this reference, he explains how to build software that is of high quality at a lower cost and shares with you the practical steps you must take in order to transition from software engineer to technical lead.

What you will learn from this book

• Practical steps you can take to combine different developmental philosophies, processes, and construction techniques into a unified approach to software

• Methods for deciding which parts of a project you need to write yourself versus what you can buy or reuse

• Tools and processes you can employ to improve source code quality and maintainability

• How to create, run, organize, and measure tests, and then make them more useful to developers and testers

• Ways that programming by contract can make your code easier for developers to understand and use

• Recommended techniques for handling errors in your code that will make your application easier to debug and support

Who this book is for

This book is for experienced software developers who are looking to improve their development skill set and bring a higher level of discipline to a project.

Wrox guides are crafted to make learning programming languages and technologies easier than you think. Written by programmers for programmers, they provide a structured, tutorial format that will guide you through all the techniques involved.

About the Author
Patrick Cauldwell somehow found his way to a career in software despite earning a bachelor’s degree in East Asian Studies. From a work-study job in the student computer lab at college through early jobs in quality assurance and localization, and finally into full-time software engineering, Patrick has always been interested in what makes computers tick. He’s worked in a wide range of software operations, from very large projects at Intel to a very small start-up to a consulting job in the midst of the .COM boom.

This highly anticipated new edition of the classic, Jolt Award-winning work has been thoroughly updated to cover Java SE 5 and Java SE 6 features introduced since the first edition. Bloch explores new design patterns and language idioms, showing you how to make the most of features ranging from generics to enums, annotations to autoboxing.

Each chapter in the book consists of several “items” presented in the form of a short, standalone essay that provides specific advice, insight into Java platform subtleties, and outstanding code examples. The comprehensive descriptions and explanations for each item illuminate what to do, what not to do, and why.