--- product_id: 1703981 title: "The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook" price: "HK$915" currency: HKD in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.hk/products/1703981-the-linux-programming-interface-a-linux-and-unix-system-programming store_origin: HK region: Hong Kong --- # The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook **Price:** HK$915 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook - **How much does it cost?** HK$915 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hk](https://www.desertcart.hk/products/1703981-the-linux-programming-interface-a-linux-and-unix-system-programming) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description The Linux Programming Interface (TLPI) is the definitive guide to the Linux and UNIX programming interface—the interface employed by nearly every application that runs on a Linux or UNIX system. In this authoritative work, Linux programming expert Michael Kerrisk provides detailed descriptions of the system calls and library functions that you need in order to master the craft of system programming, and accompanies his explanations with clear, complete example programs. You'll find descriptions of over 500 system calls and library functions, and more than 200 example programs, 88 tables, and 115 diagrams. You'll learn how to: –Read and write files efficiently –Use signals, clocks, and timers –Create processes and execute programs –Write secure programs –Write multithreaded programs using POSIX threads –Build and use shared libraries –Perform interprocess communication using pipes, message queues, shared memory, and semaphores –Write network applications with the sockets API While The Linux Programming Interface covers a wealth of Linux-specific features, including epoll , inotify , and the /proc file system, its emphasis on UNIX standards (POSIX.1-2001/SUSv3 and POSIX.1-2008/SUSv4) makes it equally valuable to programmers working on other UNIX platforms. The Linux Programming Interface is the most comprehensive single-volume work on the Linux and UNIX programming interface, and a book that's destined to become a new classic. Review: I've never seen a book rated so high. After starting to read it, If I could give it 10 stars, I would! Wow! - What an incredible resource for the Linux community! I'm an Oracle DBA, that has always been interested in the lower-level stuff (I/O, system calls, etc.). I was researching Oracle ASM (Oracle's own volume manager), but feeling the need to get more insight into the Linux I/O subsystem. So, I went to desertcart, started searching for relevant resources, and came across this book. I've bought thousands of dollars of technical books on desertcart, and read lots of desertcart reviews. When I bought this book, it had 61 reviews. 60 rated the book a 5 star, and 1 rated the book a 4-star. I have *never* seen a book rated so highly on desertcart before. A book, with incredible ratings like that, was simply unheard of. I'm now reading the book, and thoroughly enjoying the care, the attention to detail, the comprehensiveness, the technical accuracy, the methodology, the extremely well-written English, the clear explanations, and the well-written code. For example, on page 246, where Michael discusses Direct I/O, he says: "If a file is opened with O_DIRECT by one process, and opened normally (i.e. so that the buffer cache is used) by another process, then there is no coherency between the contents of the buffer cache and the data read or written via direct I/O. Such scenarios should be avoided." Wow. In just one sentence, Michael tells us one of the fundamental issues with concurrent I/O, and that by simultaneously using different I/O mechanisms, you can corrupt your files. Another example: on page 249, Michael writes: "When using the stdio library functions in conjunction with I/O system calls to perform I/O on disk files, we must keep buffering issues in mind. I/O system calls transfer data directly to the kernel buffer cache, while the stdio library waits until the stream's user-space buffer is full before calling write() to transfer the buffer to the kernel buffer cache." Wow. It makes sense, when you know as much about the Linux kernel as Michael does. Need to insert an fflush() between the stdio write and the system call write. Another "Aha!" moment, just a couple of pages later. And the pages in between had one of the clearest examples of code for Direct I/O that I have ever seen. Michael even writes about the memory alignment challenges of Direct I/O. It's simply incredible! How in the world could anyone write so much high-quality technical stuff? It's 1500+ pages of awe inspiring, amazing technical blessing. It is a fabulous example to everyone in the I.T. industry, and a very high bar for any technical books to come. Thank you, Michael, for your incredible book. Review: If you're the kind of person to find this page, just buy it - This is without a doubt the best written technical book I've ever read; it's honestly hard to believe only one person wrote and organized it. In an era where you can often get a better answer from a highly voted Stack Overflow question than you'll find most books, TLPI is 100% an exception. The material is presented in such a fashion that pretty much anyone with a working knowledge of C can pick it up, sit down, and understand any of its topics. Kerrisk often opens with a code-light "overview" chapter on the more dense topics (e.g. networking), and his descriptions are as elegant and well-written as anything you'll find on SO or by googling. He then walks through the topic with an in-depth discussion of the various APIs and excellent example code, crucially often also mentioning now-outdated approaches you will still see pop up, so the reader isn't clueless when encountering pre-POSIX code in real life. It's the rare book indeed which can serve as both an excellently written (and illustrated!) introduction and reference. If you're a student looking to get into linux systems programming (or been assigned some less than high quality reading), pick this up. if you're a programmer of the type who often finds himself typing "man 2 somethingsomething...", absolutely 100% pick this up. The fact that the author is also in charge of the man pages project for linux shows in his encyclopedic knowledge--what makes this book so outstanding is his ability to present that knowledge in an easily-digested form with tight, well-written examples. Yes, it's massive. But trust me, there isn't a page wasted in here--even if you're experienced in the area, walking through each chapter and digesting Kerrisk's explanations will serve you well. And to any professors or teachers out there who are curious: yes, please use this as your textbook. As a grad student who hasn't been in CS for very long, I was extremely fortunate to be assigned this as a textbook for a systems programming class. Without this book, there's no way I couldn't have learned as much as I did in a fairly short period of time; more importantly, it made me come to appreciate and enjoy systems programming. It combines the readability/working examples of the best Stack Overflow answers, the comprehensiveness of man pages, and logical progression for new learners in one amazingly tight (if not light) package. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #47,423 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #1 in Unix Programming #5 in Linux Programming #6 in Linux Networking & System Administration | | Customer Reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars 772 Reviews | ## Images ![The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71kj6C0TNdL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I've never seen a book rated so high. After starting to read it, If I could give it 10 stars, I would! Wow! *by J***R on November 10, 2013* What an incredible resource for the Linux community! I'm an Oracle DBA, that has always been interested in the lower-level stuff (I/O, system calls, etc.). I was researching Oracle ASM (Oracle's own volume manager), but feeling the need to get more insight into the Linux I/O subsystem. So, I went to Amazon, started searching for relevant resources, and came across this book. I've bought thousands of dollars of technical books on Amazon, and read lots of Amazon reviews. When I bought this book, it had 61 reviews. 60 rated the book a 5 star, and 1 rated the book a 4-star. I have *never* seen a book rated so highly on Amazon before. A book, with incredible ratings like that, was simply unheard of. I'm now reading the book, and thoroughly enjoying the care, the attention to detail, the comprehensiveness, the technical accuracy, the methodology, the extremely well-written English, the clear explanations, and the well-written code. For example, on page 246, where Michael discusses Direct I/O, he says: "If a file is opened with O_DIRECT by one process, and opened normally (i.e. so that the buffer cache is used) by another process, then there is no coherency between the contents of the buffer cache and the data read or written via direct I/O. Such scenarios should be avoided." Wow. In just one sentence, Michael tells us one of the fundamental issues with concurrent I/O, and that by simultaneously using different I/O mechanisms, you can corrupt your files. Another example: on page 249, Michael writes: "When using the stdio library functions in conjunction with I/O system calls to perform I/O on disk files, we must keep buffering issues in mind. I/O system calls transfer data directly to the kernel buffer cache, while the stdio library waits until the stream's user-space buffer is full before calling write() to transfer the buffer to the kernel buffer cache." Wow. It makes sense, when you know as much about the Linux kernel as Michael does. Need to insert an fflush() between the stdio write and the system call write. Another "Aha!" moment, just a couple of pages later. And the pages in between had one of the clearest examples of code for Direct I/O that I have ever seen. Michael even writes about the memory alignment challenges of Direct I/O. It's simply incredible! How in the world could anyone write so much high-quality technical stuff? It's 1500+ pages of awe inspiring, amazing technical blessing. It is a fabulous example to everyone in the I.T. industry, and a very high bar for any technical books to come. Thank you, Michael, for your incredible book. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ If you're the kind of person to find this page, just buy it *by B***H on March 8, 2016* This is without a doubt the best written technical book I've ever read; it's honestly hard to believe only one person wrote and organized it. In an era where you can often get a better answer from a highly voted Stack Overflow question than you'll find most books, TLPI is 100% an exception. The material is presented in such a fashion that pretty much anyone with a working knowledge of C can pick it up, sit down, and understand any of its topics. Kerrisk often opens with a code-light "overview" chapter on the more dense topics (e.g. networking), and his descriptions are as elegant and well-written as anything you'll find on SO or by googling. He then walks through the topic with an in-depth discussion of the various APIs and excellent example code, crucially often also mentioning now-outdated approaches you will still see pop up, so the reader isn't clueless when encountering pre-POSIX code in real life. It's the rare book indeed which can serve as both an excellently written (and illustrated!) introduction and reference. If you're a student looking to get into linux systems programming (or been assigned some less than high quality reading), pick this up. if you're a programmer of the type who often finds himself typing "man 2 somethingsomething...", absolutely 100% pick this up. The fact that the author is also in charge of the man pages project for linux shows in his encyclopedic knowledge--what makes this book so outstanding is his ability to present that knowledge in an easily-digested form with tight, well-written examples. Yes, it's massive. But trust me, there isn't a page wasted in here--even if you're experienced in the area, walking through each chapter and digesting Kerrisk's explanations will serve you well. And to any professors or teachers out there who are curious: yes, please use this as your textbook. As a grad student who hasn't been in CS for very long, I was extremely fortunate to be assigned this as a textbook for a systems programming class. Without this book, there's no way I couldn't have learned as much as I did in a fairly short period of time; more importantly, it made me come to appreciate and enjoy systems programming. It combines the readability/working examples of the best Stack Overflow answers, the comprehensiveness of man pages, and logical progression for new learners in one amazingly tight (if not light) package. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Very educational, many examples in C99, exercises. *by B***E on March 9, 2026* Unexpectedly this book helped me understand how Event Loop in NodeJS works. Many examples in C99. Great explanation what system call is. Loved history view in chapter 1. ## Frequently Bought Together - The Linux Programming Interface: A Linux and UNIX System Programming Handbook - C Programming Language, 2nd Edition - Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.hk/products/1703981-the-linux-programming-interface-a-linux-and-unix-system-programming](https://www.desertcart.hk/products/1703981-the-linux-programming-interface-a-linux-and-unix-system-programming) --- *Product available on Desertcart Hong Kong* *Store origin: HK* *Last updated: 2026-05-19*