409: Midterm
What is UNIX?
Contrary to popular belief, UNIX is not an acronym - it doesn't stand for anything. It is a text-based operating system that users type commands into, rather than a point-and-click GUI interface. Brian Kernighan came up with the name UNIX as a pun on an older, larger operating system called Multics - he changed the word into Unics, or Uniplexed Information and Computing System.
Developed in the 1960s by a group of AT&T Bell Lab employees as a successor to the Multics operating system, UNIX was designed to be as streamlined and simple as possible, while still yielding powerful control and results. As a result, UNIX is the primary choice for many servers.
UNIX and its variants are open-source, meaning that they are available for free for anybody who wants to tinker with it. In addition, the open-source license allows for coders to release their own scripts to improve, modify, or otherwise change the base code to provide a program, fix a bug, make life easier, or simply to see the power that the operating system can handle.
Even though the original operating system is called UNIX, the term UNIX globally encompasses its variants such as FreeBSD, Linux, and Solaris. Each variant is unique from the others, but they all share the same base code: UNIX. This tutorial will teach you the basics of UNIX and you will be able to apply each command to any of the variant operating systems.
