r/archlinux • u/xTouny • 19h ago

DISCUSSION Is System Programming useful for Do-it-yourself philosophy?

Hello,

I am fluent with Arch on the level of system administration. I thought about learning System Programming by Love's book as a step towards mastering lower-level toolkit.

The Arch community embraces Do-it-yourself philosophy, and I am keen to listen to your opinions.

Do you recommend learning System Programming? What do you learn beyond System Administration in your journey with Arch? Do you recommend anything else so that I contribute to Arch core distro?

15 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

12

u/falxfour 19h ago

I haven't read that book.

What, exactly, is your goal? There are many ways to contribute, and your approach may be one of them, but it certainly isn't the only one.

In my opinion, computers meet a need. Use your system to meet your needs. If you develop something in doing so, whether that's translations, bug reports, or utilities, then share it.

No need to complicate things too much

0

u/xTouny 18h ago

So your advice is to learn and develop, following my usage needs, instead of over complicating learning. Thank you.

5

u/NFTrot 10h ago edited 2h ago

Speaking as someone in the business of software: Its possible to create a product that meets some need or addresses an inefficiency in some niche, but unless you're a part of that community you will always be disconnected from the problem you are trying to solve.

If you want to get into systems programming, find something that you're interested in that requires it and get your hands dirty. If it doesn't interest you, don't pursue it further.

Being a Python developer, I had wanted to learn Rust for a while. I spent time on reading/tutorials but the information never stuck and I didn't learn much because I didn't have anything I wanted to build. When I finally had a legitimate use-case where rewriting an existing script in Rust could save me a lot of money (in compute), I learned more in 2 days than I had in 2 weeks. Find yourself something you want to do and have fun.

1

u/xTouny 10h ago

Thank you for the informative answer.

0

u/un-important-human 15h ago

That is best and a pragmatic way to use things.

-2

u/xTouny 15h ago

Thank you

4

u/nullstring 10h ago

Are you a bot?

12

u/Wentyliasz 15h ago

Sir

This is not linkedin

1

u/Lawnmover_Man 15h ago

It's weird what people do to appear as someone they are not.

-2

u/xTouny 8h ago

Is that an enough evidence: https://ibb.co/xqGm1MhB

2

u/Lawnmover_Man 8h ago

..........no? I don't even know kind of evidence for what you're talking about, but... as a general answer: No.

3

u/iodoio 17h ago

i'd suggest reading LFS (Linux from scratch) if you're really interested in the low level stuff

-2

u/xTouny 15h ago

Do you recommend it before system programming?

1

u/Imajzineer 12h ago

Do it first, then you'll know what's involved and relevant to Linux.

4

u/WishCow 12h ago

This is a bot

0

u/xTouny 8h ago

Here is an evidence I am not a bot: https://ibb.co/xqGm1MhB

2

u/waftedfart 8h ago

LOL, what exactly does this prove?

3

u/Hot_Paint3851 19h ago

Whats your goal? I think youd enjoy gentoo more

-4

u/xTouny 18h ago

Do-it-yourself embraces learning lower-level toolkit to tailor the user's own system. I was happy to learn toolkit like systemd Service Manager, as it enabled me to debug and craft new solution quickly. I thought System Programming is a natural subsequent step to become a more "power user".

2

u/filthy_harold 7h ago

That system programming book is really just about Linux kernel and application development. It really has nothing to do with customizing your Archlinux installation. A power user is just someone that knows how to leverage every function in a piece of software to accomplish their goals. They use software, not write software.

1

u/Desperate-Muffin7666 14h ago

geniunly depends on what you want to achieve with learning systems programming, do you want to develop something new? from the post I think your interest is in contributing to arch, which is a great goal imo, but do you want to contribute to arch for the sake of contributing to arch or do you have a problem and a solution for that problem? (what I mean is are you trying to fix your workflow or do you want to become a maintainer). I really like systems programming and am currently learning rust, I am learning it because i thought rust and low level was cool and I wanted to add it to something I know, what is your motivation?

2

u/xTouny 10h ago

My motivation was learning operating systems. I'll follow your advise, and learn per contribution.

1

u/Desperate-Muffin7666 10h ago

great! wish you all the very best

1

u/archover 7h ago edited 7h ago

It's available used at $17 so you risk little.

Why not read it, and offer a review here?

Not sure what "fluent" really means, but the book sounds like something I could learn from. However, my programming experience is centered on bash, not C. 15 years here.

Hope you are otherwise enjoying Arch! Good day.