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Charles Moore Reviews “Mac OS X In A Nutshell”
I frequently get asked what is the best Mac OS X book. The easy answer is David Pogue’s “Mac OS X: The Missing Manual,” currently in its second edition. It’s hard to beat the the combination of helpful information and entertaining prose. Another good choice is Todd Stauffer’s “Mastering Mac OS X,” also in its second edition, especially if you’re a bit oriented toward a more technical perspective. Then there’s the subject of this review, the just released Mac OS X In A Nutshell: A Desktop Reference” by Jason McIntosh, Chuck Toporek, and Chris Stone. This book is the latest in the “Nutshell” series from O’Reilly and Associates. 
While David Pogue’s book (which is co-published by Pogue Press and O’Reilly and Associates) is targeted mainly at beginner to intermediate users, and written in friendly, conversational prose, the Nutshell series presents a more terse and directly to the point treatment of the topic with more technical depth. In short, Pogue’s “Missing Manual” is for everybody; Stauffer’s “ Mastering” takes a more hardware-tech, intermediate to power-user oriented approach to OS X issues; and “In A Nutshell” will appeal most strongly to intermediate to power users who are interested in getting into the Unix underpinnings of OS X, although there is a fair bit of useful information about using the Aqua graphical user interface as well. As O’Reilly suggests: “this book will come in handy as a quick reference guide for those who are curious about what happens under Mac OS X is hood (and how one might tinker with it) and will be useful to those who are using Mac OS X as a server or development platform.” Consequently, while the early chapters present an overview of the Aqua interface and its functions, they don’t spend a lot of time walking you through every little detail. The information you need is there, but it’s very concise and to the point, consonant with the book’s subtitle “A Quick Reference.” On the other hand, the book’s UNIX Command Reference chapter is claimed to be the most complete and thorough coverage of Mac OS X Unix commands you can find anywhere. Every command and option in this section has been tested and checked against Jaguar -- O’Reilly’s say even the man pages that ship with each system can’t compete in accuracy. The reference incorporates the new command line tools that come with Apple’s developer tools. Other topics covered in the book include: In more detail, here’s a chapter by chapter rundown of the book’s contents. Chapter 1, “ Using Mac OS X” also includes a guide to keyboard shortcuts and menu commands, as well as sections on Menu Extras, the Dock (including Dock keyboard shortcuts), working with Windows and toolbars, opening at hand saving documents, OS X Services, start-ups, log in/out, and shutdowns, and more. Chapter 2 addresses using and configuring the Finder to suit your needs and tastes, with sections on the various View options, Finder preferences, menus and keyboard shortcuts, working with folders and disks, bundles, and aliases, the Get Info window, Favorites, and the Find and utility. Chapter 3 covers the differences distinguishing OS X from OS 9, and the niceties of using and getting along with Classic Mode, as well as the issue of dual-booting into OS 9. Chapter 4 provides a comprehensive listing of all the settings and tasks that can be performed with a OS X System Preferences, applications, utilities, and from the command line using the Terminal application. Not much discussion, just clear instructions on how to execute these functions. Chapter 5 walks us through using and configuring Mac OS X’s System Preferences application, with lots of screen shots. This is another “Quick Reference” chapter that will be useful at any level of user expertise. Chapter 6 is about using the productivity and utility applications that ship with Mac OS X, of which there are an astonishing number. Each item receives a paragraph or two. If you need more information than that, David Pogue’s “Missing Manual” can provide it. This chapter also deals with installing and uninstalling applications, and working with disk images. Chapter 7 is about networking in OS X, including both LAN and Internet connection configurations, with a brief section on using Mac OS X Web Browsers, FTP, and Virtual Network Computers. Chapter 8 addresses printing from OS X using the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS), which acts as the OS’s print server. A concise and to the point Mac OS X printing tutorial. In Chapter 9 we cross the threshold into the geek realm, with a discussion of Mac OS X filesscripts the permission system Chapter 10, “Running Java applications,” is pretty much what it sounds like, and also includes short overview of building applications with MRJ app. builder. Chapter 11 is a tutorial on System Administration -- using Root, managing Users and Groups, Network Administration, firewalls, and Single User Mode. Chapter 12 discusses Directory Services and Net Info, and introduces the fundamentals of Mac OS X’ Open Directory system. Chapter 13 is on managing Network Services, such as Mail Services, Web services, and FTP. Chapter 14 is on Web publishing with a DAMP (Darwin, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl/Python) system, explaining what these things are and how to set them up. Chapter 15 is a on Mac OS software development tools and applications, of which there seem to be many, using the Project Builder application, programming languages, the Interface Builder, libraries and frameworks. Chapter 16 covers AppleScript in OS X, including a helpful “Five Minute Guide to AppleScript. “ Chapter 17, “Text Editing In Mac OS X,” is really not about using applications like the Mac OS X TextEdit, BBEdit, or Tex Edit Plus, but rather about working with Unix text files. It consists largely of a long list of Unix key commands. Definitely not for newbies. Chapter 18 is on using CVS, a Concurrent Version System that gives developers and easy way to manage changes made to project files. Under CVS, each person working on a project gets their own “sandbox” copy of every file, which they can modify and experiment with. However, a central, untouchable file repository keeps the canonical file safe. Chapter 19 addresses using the OS X Terminal application, Process Management, and Console Mode. Chapter 20 is on Unix pattern matching, and will be mainly of interest to developers. Chapter 21tells us about shells and shell programming, again with lots of lists of Unix command lines. Chapter 22 covers the OS X defaults system -- useful to system administrators. Chapter 23 is on using the X Windows system, and open source GUI integration that facilitates using a wide selection of Unix programs on the Mac in OS X. Speaking of which, Chapter 24 explains how to install Unix software. The final chapter of Mac OS X In A Nutshell, Chapter 25, is very long --224 pages or more than one quarter of this 800 page book. It is essentially a book in itself, or more precisely a handbook containing an alphabetical summary of Unix commands -- 289 in all -- and no doubt will prove a very handy reference for command line oriented OS x users. There is also an Appendix containing a comprehensive list of resources, including books, magazines, mailing lists, and Websites, and a 32 page Index. In summary, this book is definitely not for the OS X newbie or beginner computer user, or even for more advanced users whose main interest is running production applications in Mac OS X’s Aqua GUI environment. If that sounds like you, get David Pogue’s “Mac OS X: The Missing Manual,” or Todd Stauffer’s “Mastering Mac OS X” or another mainstream user oriented Mac OS X book. However, if you’re interested in getting into the UNIX core of OS X and learning to exploit the power of the command line, or if you’re a system administrator or software developer, this book should prove to be an invaluable resource and reference in O’Reilly’s thoroughgoing tradition. For that sort of user, Mac OS X in a Nutshell gets a five - A rating.
Mac OS X in a Nutshell For more information, visit: Appendix Mac OS X in a Nutshell Table of Contents Preface I. Lay of the Land 1. Using Mac OS X 2. Using the Finder 3. Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, and Classic 4. Task and Setting Index II. System Configuration 5. System Preferences 6. Applications and Utilities 7. Networking 8. Printer Configuration and Printing 9. Filesystem Overview 10. Running Java Applications III. System and Network Administration 11. System Administration Overview 12. Directory Services and NetInfo 13. Running Network Services 14. Web Publishing with a DAMP System IV. Scripting and Development 15. Development Tools 16. AppleScript 17. Text Editing on Mac OS X 18. Using CVS V. Under Mac OS X’s Hood 19. Using the Terminal 20. Pattern Matching 21. Shells and Shell Programming 22. The Defaults System 23. Running the X Windows System 24. Installing Unix Software 25. Unix Command Reference
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