Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal featured on the cover of Programming with curses is a babirusa or Celebes pig deer. This wild pig inhabits the jungles and woodlands of Celebes and neighboring islands in the Malay Archipelago. 27 inches in height, the babirusa has wrinkled grey skin which falls in folds over its head, shoulders and neck. It has practically no hair, and its legs are unusually long for a pig.

The babirusa is easily identified by its tusks; upper canines which grow throughout its lifetime, frequently reaching lengths of 17 inches. These tusks curl upward and backward, sometimes reaching the forehead. Though distinctive, these tusks appear to have no use. Indeed, they may be a hindrance, for, though the babirusa feeds on shellfish, herbs and grasses, it does not root about in the soil for food like most pigs. UNIX and its attendant programs can be unruly beasts. Nutshell Handbooks(R) help you tame them.

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Edie Freedman designed this cover and the entire bestiary that appears on other Nutshell Handbooks. The images ares are adapted from 19th-century engravings from the Dover Pictorial Archive.

The text of this book is set in Times Roman; headings are Helvetica; examples are Courier. Text was prepared using SortQuadUs sqtroff text formatter. Figures are produced with a Macintosh. Printing is done on an Apple LaserWriter.