Unix
Exploring Expect (Nutshell Handbooks)
Format: Paperback
Author: Don Libes
ReleaseDate: 01 December, 1994
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Rating:
Cool
I have found Expect a usefull companion in many arcane system administration task and this text by Don Libes (many of the examples exists as papers online) is an excellent 'cookbook' and a great starting point. Have you ever wondered how to create 12000 principle in kerberos from a list of username and passwords, maybe the data is stored in some mysql database? Yeah I had to do that and this book came to my aid.
autoexpect is also a cool simulation tool. try it .
Good Introduction
After seeing how practical it was with automating command line sessions and I decided to get this book. I came across Expect while I was trying to find a programming language to automate certain tasks in my experiments.
The book covers many topics relevant to developing Expect programs along with a good introduction to Tcl, which made it quicker for me to ease into writing Expect code. The book is self-contained and after reading a few chapters, I was able to automate FTP and SSH sessions with Expect programs. The book is very useful if you are a beginner Tcl/Expect programmer. However for some advanced topics, I found myself searching for answers on the man pages and the Internet.
In summary, I recommend this book for people, who need a good introduction to Expect but don't want to start from Unix man pages.
Nice reference to have
The only drawback I can really think of is that it is not extensive as it should be to make it an exhaustive reference guide. The good thing about this book is that it gives one a basic back ground of TCL before delving into Expect which, makes it an excellent "quick" reference book to have on the shelf.
Nice book. Worth the money you pay.
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