C language neccessary? 2

[jd99]

Although I have been tinkering around with Unix\linux a little for the past 2 years, I am very much a newbie. My question to you guru's is, would I need to learn C to be a somewhat decent unix\solaris admin. If so, what learning curve can I expect? I have been in IT for about 3 years, my backround is NT\win2k\ some Novell and Cisco.

Thank you
Joe

 

[johnhoke]

It is not *manditory* to know C to be a good *Nix admin (tho' it does certainly help ...), but it would be a good idea to know a bit of certain languages/tools (perl, sed/awk, shell scripting, etc) in order to automate your work and be lazy <G>

The learning curve for C will be greater than perl or shell scripting, (although if you can read perl, and I mean, anyone's perl, you will become a god <G>) none of them are imposible to learn, and can be self taught over a short period (depending on the amount of time you have to study).

There are a number of great C books and tutorials available on the web

-John ---
John Hoke<br>

 

[jd99]

Well, Perl is one I have been considering heavily, mainly due to the fact of its compatibility with different platforms, i.e. unix, NT. Here's another question, and this is a real stupid one, Perl syntax would be the same no matter what the OS right?

Thank you
Joe

 

[jd99]

Oh, and I love being lazy.

 

[johnhoke]

a perl by any other name is just as unintelligible <G>

But seriously, perl is the same 99.9% the only differences are some functions may or may not be available across all platforms...
---
John Hoke<br>

 

[jd99]

Thanks alot for your advice. If anyone else cares to comment, I will gladly appreciate it.

Thanks
Joe

 

[edfair]

I've been by default the administrator of up to 15 systems for 10 years. Don't know C. Don't want to know C.
You need to know enough about shell scripts to be able to build simple ones and be able to modify more complicated ones.
Better to study scripting on a test machine in any case.
And a good knowledge of the tools/utilities supplied with the OS and dose of common sense are required. Ed Fair
efair@atlnet.com

Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply.

Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[ElgisRamon]

All people are right, you don't need C to be a good system mangler, but like any knowledge, it can help. To be a good System Mangler yo will need to program your shell, then learn it (good candidates will be sh, ksh, bash), and many utilities, specially [tt]sed[/tt], [tt]awk[/tt] and [tt]perl[/tt].

Good luck.
I hope it works...
Unix was made by and for smart people.