Lions Commentary on UNIX ANNOTATION
Written in 1977 as an Operating Systems text for his students at the University of New South Wales, this gives complete source code to an early version of UNIX, plus commentary from Lions. This famous underground manuscript was never permitted to be formally published, so generations of UNIX hackers learned UNIX by referring to pirated photocopies of this book... it is arguably the most famous suppressed book in computer history! Foreword by Dennis Ritchie, retrospective essays from Ken Thompson, Berny Goodheart, Peter Salus, Mike Tilson, and other well-known UNIX figures. Many consider the early UNIX kernel (personally written by Thompson and Ritchie) the most elegant computer code ever written--- this book shows why! Note that the book covers the 6th 'edition' (rev) of UNIX; the book itself is the historical first edition (it was never revised).
FROM THE PUBLISHER
For the past 20 years, UNIX insiders have cherished and zealously guarded pirated photocopies of this manuscript, a "hacker trophy" of sorts. Now legal (and legible) copies are available. An international "who's who" of UNIX wizards, including Dennis Ritchie, have contributed essays extolling the merits and importance of this underground classic.