Linux Users of Victoria, Inc.

The book's sub-title, A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook, indicates a broader coverage than just Linux. If you happen to see a copy of The Linux Programming Interface on a bookshelf, take the time to read the first few pages of the preface. One paragraph is worth quoting here:

Although I focus on Linux, I give careful attention to standards and portability issues, and clearly distinguish the discussion of Linux-specific details from the discussion of features that are coomon to most UNIX implementations and stamdardized by POSIX and the Singe UNIX Specification. Thus this book also provides a comprehensive description of the UNIX/POSIX programming interface and can be used by programmers writingf applications targeted at other UNIX systems or intended to be portable across multiple systems.

A feature of the book that greatly impressed me is the binding. A reference such as this will be subect to much handling, something the publishers have anticipated: the robust hard cover should stand a lot of wear, and the lay-flat binding is superb. Much of the damage that results in books--especially those with a large page count--to fall apart is caused by book vs. reader wrestling bouts. All kinds of stratagems, some quite violent, are employed to make a book stay open where the reader chooses; but books often have a mind of their own. Even if described as having a lay-flat binding a thick book may be reluctant to behave when one wants it to stay open at, say, page 10. The Linux Programming Interface is a pleasure to handle; the binding is a feature that will add greatly to its usefulness.

This is not a reference covering every Linux command; its focus—as the title makes clear—is on the Linux programming interface.