W. Richard Stevens (1951–1999)

Stevens had an amazing ability to simply and clearly explain technical topics that can be quite complex. While I knew quite a bit about the TCP/IP protocol stack this book helped pull this topic together in a more complete way that I could have on my own, or by reading several other books. I still find myself regularly reaching for this book (or the other 3 in the series).

Stevens had an amazing ability to simply and clearly explain technical topics that can be quite complex. While I knew quite a bit about UNIX system programming, these book helped pull this topic together in a more complete way that I could have on my own, or by reading several other books. I still find myself regularly reaching for this book.

This is a serious, genuine, OMG sort of update. It came out in 2013, and is current with the way the world works today (well, the world of computing, at least). It makes me regret being retired.

Library Thing believes that this book is the same as the previous versions, but trust me, it isn't. It's a dramatic change even from the second edition (which Stephen Rago also updated), and light years away from the first edition. The format was the same for all three, but some of the old information show more is gone (STREAMS is a notable example), and the reference operating systems match the current reality.

It's an excellent book, and if you're currently working in the field, you should get this edition. show less

This slim volume contains everything you need to know about the most important transaction protocols. HTTP drives most of what the general population knows of the internet, although I doubt very many people need to know much about NNTP nowadays.

The domain protocols are also covered in this volume, and it's a good start at understanding socket programming, and other intricacies.