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by CandidlyFake 3072 days ago
> Even then... Where are you going to start in reading references? A random syscall or function a day?

Sure. Or browse through a bunch of them?

> think it is far more useful to e.g. read the late W. Richard Stevens' Advanced Programming in the Unix environment.

That is closer to a reference than a novice tutorial.

> It puts everything in context, provides historical background where necessary, and gives examples.

Sure. So do good references. Even man pages do.

> Reference pages are not really for brushing up, but more for the 'what was the address family field of sockaddr called again'-type of questions? Or put differently: they are external memory.

It depends on your level, experience and your competence in the material I guess. I'm not saying it's the only thing you need, but in many situations, it's the only thing you need to brush up.