Interview with Sarath Lakshman, Author of Linux Shell Scripting Cookbook

Sarath is the author of our recently published Linux Shell Scripting Cookbook which helps you solve real-world shell scripting problems with over 110 simple but incredibly effective recipes.

Sarath Lakshman is a Hacktivist of Free and Open Source Software from India. He is known as developer of SLYNUX Linux distribution and contributed open source projects such as Pitivi, Pardus, and Istanbul. He also authors technical articles for magazines in India. He is a passionate blogger at http://www.sarathlakshman.com

He is currently working at Zynga, India, in the Systems Engineering Group.

Packt: Your book is published now. How does it feel to be a published author?

Sarath: Feels great! I used to write for technology magazines, but writing a complete book is different. A lot of work is involved in the process of publishing a book from writing the draft copy to a refined, full fledged book. I am really happy to hear lot of good comments from the readers.

Packt: What benefits did writing a book bring to your specialist area?

Sarath: Being an author, I received good acknowledgement and respect from my friends and colleagues. There are many Linux shell scripting books available in the market, but the book I wrote has a different insight to present more valid and essential facts about Linux shell scripting in a cookbook style approach. It helps to learn shell scripting and readers can use the book as a good reference for daily usage and practice. A lot of people liked the different approach used in the book which made it different from other books.

Considering my personal perspective, I learnt a lot from practice and from my experience while writing the book. Having all those recipes compiled into a book on my table is a really good feeling.

Packt: Our authors usually have full-time jobs whilst writing for us. Was this the case for you and how did you approach managing your time?

Sarath: I started working on the book in the final year of my undergraduate program. I did not find it very difficult to manage writing with university studies, but I had to sacrifice recreational plans with friends on several occasions. We had a schedule for the book which I tried to keep. It kept me very busy for around 6 months. The book got published before I graduated.

Packt: Whilst writing your book, did you find that it overshadowed personal life in any way? How did you deal with this?

Sarath: The writing process was enjoyable. But there are uninteresting parts too. It kept me inside a room while my friends and family went out and had fun. But I was happy to work on the book in my eagerness to see my book published.

Packt: Do you have any advice for other authors who may be interested in writing for Packt, but are still unsure?

Sarath: Writing a book is a delightful experience. If you think you have the required knowledge, and you have the passion and patience to share what you have gained through experience, go ahead and write the book. But definitely, present the content with lot of examples. When you feel tired, do not try to continue in order to meet the schedule. Rather, take breaks and continue. Quality and readability should spice up the book and not be compromised.

Packt: Do you have any tips for other authors, or tricks that you learnt whilst writing, that you'd like to share?

Sarath: When you are doing the first draft of a chapter, try to write in a more refined way so as to reduce all the overheads in the later part of editing phase. Before starting with the book, take some time to learn the formats and various presentation methods.

Packt: How did you find the overall experience of writing your book for Packt?

Sarath: The process was really smooth. The editors, reviewers and all staff involved in the process were really co-operative and helpful. I thank all of them for getting the book published.

Packt: During the writing process, did you come across any issues/ difficulties that affected your writing and how did you overcome these?

Sarath: One difficulty I faced was not having the right mood to write and complete content according to the schedule. Very often I went ahead without considering the fatigue in order to stick to the schedule. This took some extra effort of rewriting since I often found those parts of chapters uninteresting for readers. Later on, I concentrated more on quality than schedule.

Packt: Was there anything interesting that happened during the writing of the book?

Sarath: After I decided to write the book, I tried to observe the best shell scripting practices and tried to note down different problems that I came across. Later I included them as recipes in some of my chapters.

Packt: How did Packt’s Acquisition Editors help you - what kind of things did they help you with and how did they support you throughout the writing process?

Sarath: Packt’s editors supported me throughout the entire process. The chapter reviews helped me to refine the content during the editing process itself. I thank all of them for the help and support.

Packt: What projects, if any, are you working on at the moment?

Sarath: I am currently working as full-time employee at Zynga, India and enjoying working with highly scalable technologies at Zynga. These days I am working on membase project. I hope to do some open source contributions with membase.

Would you like to be an author yourself? >Click here to contact us.