Unix: Difference between revisions
imported>Eric M Gearhart (Removed 'list of utilities' table (this would never get completed) See the discussion over at Talk:Linux#we.27re_not_a_manual for a discussion on this problem) |
imported>Eric M Gearhart (Trying to get that 'gripping prose' thing going on) |
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'''Unix''' (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a [[computer]] [[operating system]] | '''Unix''' (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a [[computer]] [[operating system]] originall conceived by a group of four engineers at Bell Labs: [[Ken Thompson]], [[Dennis Ritchie]], Doug McIlroy, and J. F. Ossanna.<ref name="Something Else">{{cite web|url=http://www.bell-labs.com/history/unix/somethingelse.html|title="The Creation of the UNIX* Operating System: From Multics to something else"| retrievedate=09-April-2007}}</ref> | ||
The name and origin of Unix share the same source: [[MULTICS]]. | |||
Today Unix has a diverse and varied background, and various systems are split into branches of development, modified over time by AT&T as well as various commercial vendors and non-profit organizations. | |||
The present owner of the trademark UNIX® is The Open Group, an industry standards consortium. Only systems fully compliant with and certified to the Single UNIX Specification qualify as "UNIX®" (others are called "Unix system-like" or "Unix-like"). Similarly, [[POSIX]] defines a standard set of system calls, utilities and standard library functions for Unix-like systems. | The present owner of the trademark UNIX® is The Open Group, an industry standards consortium. Only systems fully compliant with and certified to the Single UNIX Specification qualify as "UNIX®" (others are called "Unix system-like" or "Unix-like"). Similarly, [[POSIX]] defines a standard set of system calls, utilities and standard library functions for Unix-like systems. | ||
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== The philosophy of Unix == | == The philosophy of Unix == | ||
Although there is quite a variety among Unix systems, one common theme is the so-called "small tools that do their job very well." That is, a Unix system has many programs, each of which specializes in a small task. The user can combine these tools (via [[scripting]] or [[I/O pipe|piping]]) to accomplish higher level goals. Although this may make some tasks more difficult than common [[graphical user interface|graphical user interfaces]], it allows the user to perform complicated tasks that were not explicitly allowed for by the interface's designer. | Although there is quite a variety among Unix systems, one common theme is the so-called "small tools that do their job very well." That is, a Unix system has many programs, each of which specializes in a small task. The user can combine these tools (via [[scripting]] or [[I/O pipe|piping]]) to accomplish higher level goals. Although this may make some tasks more difficult than common [[graphical user interface|graphical user interfaces]], it allows the user to perform complicated tasks that were not explicitly allowed for by the interface's designer. | ||
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In contrast, a user in a graphical user would need to use the search application to find such files, wait for the search to complete, and then use an archiving application to create the archive. | In contrast, a user in a graphical user would need to use the search application to find such files, wait for the search to complete, and then use an archiving application to create the archive. | ||
==See also== | |||
== See also == | |||
* [[POSIX]] | * [[POSIX]] | ||
==References== | |||
[[Category:CZ Live]] | [[Category:CZ Live]] | ||
[[Category:Computers Workgroup]] | |||
Revision as of 01:29, 9 April 2007
Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originall conceived by a group of four engineers at Bell Labs: Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Doug McIlroy, and J. F. Ossanna.[1]
The name and origin of Unix share the same source: MULTICS.
Today Unix has a diverse and varied background, and various systems are split into branches of development, modified over time by AT&T as well as various commercial vendors and non-profit organizations.
The present owner of the trademark UNIX® is The Open Group, an industry standards consortium. Only systems fully compliant with and certified to the Single UNIX Specification qualify as "UNIX®" (others are called "Unix system-like" or "Unix-like"). Similarly, POSIX defines a standard set of system calls, utilities and standard library functions for Unix-like systems.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Unix's influence in academic circles led to large-scale adoption (particularly of the BSD variant, originating from the University of California, Berkeley) of Unix by commercial startups, notably Sun Microsystems. Today, in addition to certified Unix systems, Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, Mac OS X and BSD derivatives are commonly encountered.
The philosophy of Unix
Although there is quite a variety among Unix systems, one common theme is the so-called "small tools that do their job very well." That is, a Unix system has many programs, each of which specializes in a small task. The user can combine these tools (via scripting or piping) to accomplish higher level goals. Although this may make some tasks more difficult than common graphical user interfaces, it allows the user to perform complicated tasks that were not explicitly allowed for by the interface's designer.
For instance, suppose the user wanted to create an archive of all files which reference his vacation created between two and three month ago. Under Unix, this could be accomplished as a combination of tar (the archiving application), find (a file search application) and grep (a file pattern matching application). In a single command:
tar czf vacation.tar.gz `find . -ctime +60 -ctime -90 -exec grep -il vacation {} \;`
In contrast, a user in a graphical user would need to use the search application to find such files, wait for the search to complete, and then use an archiving application to create the archive.