Unix Programmer Career Guide and Counseling

Question: Spiritually Speaking – could God be a computer programmer? There’s a saying that "Unix is user-friendly. It's just very selective about who its friends are." People are always saying “God **chose** me. This made me wonder - could God be a Unix Programmer?

Answer: Unix is as user-friendly as a eunich. You can f-cking quote me on that.

Question: What Application Programmer Interfaces (API's) do not seem to exist in programs in UNIX? What Application Programmer Interfaces (API's) do not seem to exist in programs in UNIX?

Answer: There are all kinds of APIs that are platform-specific and which exclude Linux. There are also lots of APIs that exclude Windows.

Question: As there is MFC for C++ programmers . Do we have any set of classes while working with C++ on UNIX or Linux ? For C++ programmers using windows like in VC++ we have MFC which provides with number of classes to support various programming needs . Similarily for a C++ programmer working on Unix or Linux do we have any additional set of classes ?

Answer: For linux you can use fltk, gtk or qt. these are open source and can be downloaded for free from the net.

Question: What's deferenth of windows with linux or unix or others ? and wich of them is easy to work and safe ? I'm a programmer

Answer: Yah, I bet you program in cobol. Different flavors of Windows (3.1, 95, 98, XP, Vista) are written for the Intel x86 family of processors and their variants, i.e. PCs. The options to the user under Windows are limited to what Micro$oft wants the user to be able to do - and that is pretty limited in reality. Windows can be set up properly to create a safe, easy work environment, or it can be set up to be very vulnerable to viruses, inexperienced users messing up the machine, and other problems. There are flavors of Linux written for PCs, Mac, and other hardware platforms (but I don't follow those). Linux is very open - there are well over 100 different varieties / flavors / distributions of Linux for the PC - and each have unique characteristics, so Linux is very flexible, and users can have a lot of room to change the look, feel, and functioning of a Linux machine. www.distrowatch.org lists 100 distros on their website. Linux can be easy to work with - it can be very similar to Windows or a Mac in terms of look and basic functioning. It can be set up so that it is very insecure, or it can be set up very, very secure. Windows is brain-dead easy to install, when nothing goes wrong. And it can be easy to install programs, again when nothing goes wrong. Linux can be almost as easy to install, but it can also be very difficult, depending on a lot of variables. It can be very easy to install programs in Linux, but some programs are really difficult to install - and there are several different ways to install programs - thus varying in difficulty. Windows crashes more often than Linux, and often brings the machine to a stop. When a program crashes in Linux, it often only affects the program, not the Linux o/s, so things often continue to work. Windows is better at games, since there are more Windows users out there game developers target that audiance. There are some games ported to Linux, but relatively few. The latest version of Windows Vista probably costs $200 plus (just a guess). More than 95, or maybe even 99% of the latest versions of Linux cost $0 - they can cost more if you want, but that is an individual choice. Linux is about choice. Windows is about ease. Since you are a programmer, use google to learn more, as well as to learn about unix. (Linux is modelled after Unix so there are many operational similarities.)

Question: Why do programmers like UNIX so much?

Answer: For the rest of my answer, let's presume Linux instead of Unix... As a high-level programmer who really never has to dive into the nitty-gritty of an operating system, and as a programmer who started pre-MS-DOS and eventually programmed under Windows... I welcome Linux with open arms because I am really tired of having to re-install Windows every time it crashes miserably. Here I am still running Windows 2000, waiting for them to come out with a Windows XP version that I could actually TRUST... and apparently that's not going to happen. Instead we have another monstrosity, Vista, whose only sell-able feature, if you believe the advertisements, is a prettier interface... and by the the way, something that Linux desktops have had for quite some time. But why just go with opinion of a bunch of die-hards (me included)? You can try it for yourself without even having to install anything on your hard drive. All of the following distributions will run completely from the CD... just download, burn, and boot.... Ubuntu will even ship you the CD for free. Mandriva One http://www.mandriva.com/community/mandrivaone Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com/ Knoppix http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Question: Unix or Linux ? Hello all beautiful readers , I am a young boy who wants to be a professional network programmer , i ve been working in windows application up to now but now i wanna be one of most professional netowork programmers , me myself like Unix cuz I remember old hackers used it but some ppl say Linux is better , which one is much better for me ? I ll be happy if u help me find my choose , all the bests

Answer: Hi Pedram! i am also one from your stream only... Want to be a tycoon in this IT industry... So all about UNIX & LINUX huh??? See, old hackers did used UNIX to Hack, but these days the market is changin so dynamically that if you just stick on to some damn old thing, u'll never be able to survive here... So the answer is very simple & clear: LEARN LINUX... it is better, new, easier to operate than UNIX and the best thing is that "It contains all the features of UNIX"

Question: How do I get data from the corporate accounting system into my local desktop database system? Can I run a query or something to see the data just for my area and display it at my desk?If someone needs access to several of these machines concurrently, must he/she have a dedicated terminal for some of the systems? (Suppose in addition to being a user of Windows 95 or NT, I am also a UNIX system administrator or a mainframe programmer.)

Answer: well, this is what i think: export the data to a universally accepted format (say CSV data format or MSexcel data), and then import that exported data into your desktop database. as for a concurrent connection, a dedicated terminal would be OK but still it has to export the data in a data format that is universally accepted and which can also be read by your desktop database system.

Question: Which latest PHP books would you recommend for a seasoned programmer? Purpose: I need to use PHP and MySQL to build a web site with fairly sophisticated features including but not limited to session securities, traffic tracking, database support, and latest ad handling features. My background: 1. Never programmed PHP or MySQL or Java, but, for 10 years, have done large commercial projects using Perl, HTML, Javascript, Oracle (RDBMS, SQL, and PL/SQL), C/C++, X-windows (core stuff), etc. 2. Knows UNIX environments well, but not Windows or NT. Would prefer books published within the past year. Interested in web sites with good training materials as well. Thank you very much.

Answer: If you are in fact a seasoned programmer with Perl and C/C++ experience, no book is necessary; the PHP documentation will do just fine: http://www.php.net/manual/en/ Sessions, in particular, are covered here: http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.session.php Traffic tracking really has nothing to do with PHP (or any other scripting language); it is implemented on HTTP server level. You should consult documentation for the server you will be developing for (Apache, IIS, whatever). "Latest ad handling features"... Not sure what you mean...

Question: Is it possible to dump data from mysqldump in CSV format? is it possible to dump data from mysqldump in CSV format? I couldnt find an option, though fields-terminated-by looks promising but I wonder why didnt they include a sample mysqldump command in "mysqldump --help" output, and why dont they KDE/CDE programmers make UNIX the same way it is in command line dos except that it includes enhanced wiki style editability, tooltips, zooming text windows created using standard curses library and why waste redundant programmer resources on developing KDE/CDE/BeOS etc etc? It would combine the simplicity of a windows style GUI but with character mode interface.

Answer: Yes it is possible to dump data from mysqldump in CSV format.

Question: linux/unix vs windows what makes linux better? i am a windows guy my question is can i be a good programmer if i down know linux or make programs for linux/unix? is learning linux/unix hard?

Answer: Linux is generally more stable and less trouble to use on a daily basis. Its also generally more secure. Its very easy to learn and most programming done on Linux is quite portable unless you tend to do systems work. Get a copy of Ubuntu and get started!

Question: How do you password protect a web page? How do I password protect a webpage? I have a website that is fully accessible but would like to create some hidden pages for clients to access. These pages should be password protected so they are private.I don't necessarily need to have them encrypted or anythign fancy if that happens to be difficult. I want to be able to load new information to these pages and I will email the people for them to check the new stuff. How do I do this? I use dreamweaver and have no programming knowledge except basic HTML stuff. Please help. Walk me through every step. Additional Details 20 minutes ago I use WIndows XP Professional SP2 and the server uses Linux. It also states extra stuff- It has Apache version 1.3.37 (UNIX) Perl Version 5.8.5 I don't know any of that stuff how that works. I don't know what PHP is....I am not a programmer, I work on visual stuff so this is alllllllllllll new to me.

Answer: THis needs to be configured in the Web Application Server (For example IIS or Apache) Generally, there is a keyword like PROTECT that would invoke password checking routines. You will need to know how to configure a Web Application Server to make this happen, unless oyu want to do fancy programs to have your programs check and validate users.

Question: Do I need to be good in MATH to be a Database Administrator? I am planning to be a database administrator and I'm thinking to get a certificate for that. I already know the classes that I need to take but I'm not sure if the "oracle, linux, unix" are programming classes... I'm really really bad at math, and I always hear that a person has to be good in math to be a programmer ( or at least to make programs ). Can somebody tell me the if these (oracle, linux, unix) classes are gonna be programming??? Thanks.

Answer: Math isnt a big part of Database Admins. Most of the Admins job is to keep existing database systems operational and to help non computer people get information out of the database or put information into the database. You will learn operating systems like unix so that you can manage files on the hard drive, make backups, install/remove programs - nothing you dont probably already do with your MS Windows OS or Mac OS - not really any math there. The majority of the Oracle stuff you will need to know as admin will be a lot of commands for copying databases, making backups of databases, setting up passwords for users, removing access for users. Dont get freaked out by SQL, you will need to know some, but as admin your not expected to master all the SQL programming skills that go with designing a database system from the ground up - that would be the job of Database Designer/Software Developer.

Question: How to sell myself in IT Graduate Programmer role where I have little to no commercial experience ? I have 10yrs experience working primarily as a dba/developer using Informix/Ingres on Unix platforms. Developing 4GL forms, sql, reports etc.., I am very competent in Microsoft office and excel/access vba and the Ingres working included maintenance of embedded C code and several label programming languages. I left my job of 10 years, after 2 years in a software testing role to pursue a university degree. I have an interview for a graduate vb.net programmer role which includes using asp.net, xml and ado.net. Through my HNC qualification (2001) I have experience in visual basic and java. I also graduated this year with a BSc Hon in Applied Information Technology with a first which is a general IT degree. The programming elements included access/excel vba, flash actionscript (similar to java), OOP theory, XML and JSP. So my overall experience is a mixed bag in a number of languages and applications on all kinds of platforms unix, windows, ibm mainframe. How should I tie in this experience to .net solutions? I know XML is feature heavily in the ado.net and jsp can be compared to asp.net. Also I have used visual basic 5 which of course is pre.net and procedural based. I know there will be other graduates and programmers who have more experience than me in the general languages such as java, C++, C#, Vb.net etc.., What can I do to prove that I could be a better candidate than Joe blogs who did a computer science degree and used .net technology for 3 years? Forgot to mention I have already signed up for a city & gulds in software development (evening course). Modules include vb.net (highly relevalnt for this job), web design (should include asp, again highly relevant), C++ and software testing.

Answer: contact theladders.com asap

Question: What makes Microsoft Windows more vulnerable to attacks? Compared to Unix, Mac and other operating systems, Microsoft seems to be the most vulnerable to spyware, virus, etc... Is it because hackers prefer to put energy on attacking a more propagated OS? Is it because hackers hate Microsoft? Is it because Microsoft has to keep things compatible with old versions that they can't avoid leaving some doors open? Is it because Microsoft programmers are not good enough? Is it because Microsoft doesn't care? If you know the answer, I would like to know it too. If you guess the answer, Let's see how many think like you. If you like the question, give me a star (lol). Roger, I think you want to show me some vulnerabilities, but all those websites make my antivirus go crazy as "Dangerous web sites", and I prefer to keep them like that. Please explain your point with an answer.

Answer: Most operating systems restrict how operating system functions like disk format and file renames/deletes can be called and who can call them. Since Windows integrates applications code into the operating system and requires system admin access to install software anyone can install a virus or malware on a windows system and have full access to operating system functions. Another problem is that Windows has no capability to protect the copy of the operating system on disk so even if the kernel is corrupted in memory you could reload it from disk(reboot) but since Windows only supports one partition for the OS and applications (C: drive). there is no way to protect it the way that Unix does. One other problem is that Microsoft does not document all the Application Programming Interfaces and they violate their own programming standards in other MS software such as Office. So programs can branch directly into the operating system without going through the documented API's. Other operating systems do not allow this. The list of how Windows does not protect itself from attack goes on including not invoking the hardware storage protection function that is available in the Intel chip set. I would not consider windows an operating system but an application front end driver. Last but not least since Windows is the most commonly used OS for PC's that is the one that crackers attack. No reason to attack hard to crack systems when you can hit so many easy ones.

Question: Linux/Unix online classes/books/tutorial? ok, I know BASIC COMMANDS in terminal and I know what i need to know.. but, i want to be a "professional" (and yes, im a programmer) but i want to learn more about linux thanks

Answer: Here are some titles you should find interesting : Advanced Linux Programming http://www.advancedlinuxprogramming.com/ A Programmer's Introduction to Python http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/programming_books/python_programming/index.html C# Essentials http://www.techotopia.com/index.php/C_Sharp_Essentials Program Library HOWTO http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/programming_books/linux_library_guide/index.html The GNU C Programming Tutorial http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/programming_books/gnu_c_programming_tutorial/index.html The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/linux_kernel/linux_kernel_module_programming_2.6/index.html The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/Linux_Kernel_Module_Programming_Guide/index.html The Linux Kernel http://tldp.org/LDP/tlk/tlk.html Hope these are useful. LUg.

Question: Programming an OS [unix-like machine]? I am a starting programmer nd would like to expirement with linux but how can i learn about the linux kernel and more bout programinng in this kinda way??

Answer: Well one of the first things you could do to get you going is to install a distribution of linux called Gentoo. You set this dist up yourself, by telling it what you want and about your computer, this could just be a stepping stone.