The UNIX-HATERS Handbook

infobox book
name = The UNIX-HATERS Handbook


author = Simson Garfinkel
Daniel Weise
Steven Strassmann
publisher = IDG
isbn = 1-56884-203-1
release_date = 1994

"The UNIX-HATERS Handbook" is a semi-humorous edited compilation of messages to the UNIX-HATERS mailing list. The book was edited by Simson Garfinkel, Daniel Weise and Steven Strassmann and published in 1994. The book was made available to download for free in electronic format in 2003. [cite web|url= http://slashdot.org/articles/03/04/26/2354245.shtml |title= Unix-Haters Handbook Available Online |publisher= Slashdot.org |date= 2003-04-26 |accessdate= 2007-08-21 ]

The book concerns the frustrations of users of the Unix operating system. Many users had come from systems that they felt were far more sophisticated in computer science terms, and were tremendously frustrated by the worse is better design philosophy that they felt Unix and much of its software encapsulated.

This book was printed as a trade paperback. Its front cover was designed to be similar to "The Scream". An air sickness bag, printed with the phrase "UNIX barf bag", was inserted into the inside back cover of every copy, by the publisher.

The front-matter pages dedication says: “"To Ken and Dennis, without whom this book would not have been possible."”

Table of contents

* Foreword, by Donald Norman
* Preface
* Anti-Foreword, by Dennis Ritchie, co-creator of Unix, which denigrates the book's concept.;Part 1 — User Friendly?
*1 Unix. The World's First Computer Virus
*2 Welcome, New User! Like Russian Roulette with Six Bullets Loaded
*3 Documentation? What Documentation?
*4 Mail. Don't Talk to Me, I'm Not a Typewriter
*5 Snoozenet. I Post, Therefore I Am
*6 Terminal Insanity. Curses! Foiled Again!
*7 The X-Windows Disaster. How to Make a 50-MIPS Workstation Run Like a 4.77MHz IBM PC (A chapter on the X Window System, written by Don Hopkins);Part 2 — Programmer's System?
*8 csh, pipes, and find. Power Tools for Power Fools
*9 Programming. Hold Still, This Won't Hurt a Bit
*10 C++. The COBOL of the 90s; Part 3 — Sysadmin's Nightmare
*11 System Administration. Unix's Hidden Cost
*12 Security. Oh, I'm Sorry, Sir, Go Ahead, I didn't Realize You Were Root
*13 The File System. Sure It Corrupts Your Files, But Look How Fast It Is!
*14 NFS. Nightmare File System;Part 4 — Et Cetera
* A Epilogue. Enlightenment Through Unix
* B Creators Admit C, Unix Were Hoax
* C The Rise of Worse is Better, by Richard P. Gabriel (an essay on the design differences between the so-called MIT/Stanford style and the so-called New Jersey approach.)
* D Bibliography

References

External links

* (3.5MB)
* [http://linuxgazette.net/issue22/haters.html A review by Andrew Kuchling] on Linux Gazette