General Unix introduction (was Re: [SWLUG] Defrag and dir /p equivilents)

[Telsa Gwynne]

Ar Wed, Feb 22, 2006 at 10:20:03PM +0000, ysgrifennodd Steve Hill:
> 
> The unix methodology is to write many programs, each doing one thing well. 
> You can then string them together using pipes to get the functionality

For a nice introduction to some basic Unix commands with a lot
more detail on this philosophy, its consequences, and what this
means when you're staring blankly at the screen thinking "Now
what?", there's a lovely book called "Think Unix" by Jon 
Lasser. It's quite short compared with the giant "hire thirty
people to write one chapter each" efforts from some publishers,
but it's a lot better for that. 

It focuses on explaining general ideas. Ideas like "there's a sort 
of family tree of Unix versions; things vary across them; this is 
why the arguments for 'ps' vary on different Unix systems". The
hows and whys. And not on facts that may or may not be accurate for 
those different systems. It doesn't matter which ps options correspond
to which on Berkeley and Sys V systems. (Especially if you're
on Linux, which accepts both.) The important thing is to know 
how to find out if you need to. So it explains that. And how to
decipher a manual page: a vital skill!

This means that even where it's outdated, such as its discussion
of the legality of ssh or the state of the desktop (written six
years ago), you still get the important bit: why things are like 
they are, and how to find out more. 

Not directly relevant to the question of "how do I defrag my disc", 
I know, but the mention of "the unix methodology" reminded me. 

Telsa