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As a 45 year old with 30 years of experience in the computer industry, such titles interest me, immensely. I grew up with Unix. I remember the days when Unix
by fit2rule 11y ago
As a 45 year old with 30 years of experience in the computer industry, such titles interest me, immensely.
I grew up with Unix.
I remember the days when Unix was a seriously advanced topic, available only to the elite privileged (adults) who were granted access to it as a technological resource only through machinations that were out of my scope of influence, as a 13 year old learning computing in 1983. It was a vast mystery.
It was only with great effort on my part that access was eventually granted in the form of a login over a slow modem. That was enough for me to move to the next phase.
Then, it was a mystery in terms of taxology. I had a near-infinite, seemingly overwhelming number of things to learn - more than what was in my high school curriculum, more than my little home 8-bit computer could teach me, more .. it seemed at the time .. than all the books on my shelf.
Well, it was only a few years - actually probably less than 10 months - until I was able to grasp at least a little bit of the subject, and do something with it. That was enough to propel me into the professional sphere - where I was able to move from a clueless teenager into the clued-up programmer zone.
And then (late 80's) it became a game of "which Unix do you want to know?", and that game was as thorny as any other. I chose Risc/OS (from MIPS, pre-SGI) and it worked out: I gained my own machine (physical hardware) as a result of commercial delivery of products - a few files of .c/.h - which I'd managed to build as a result of eager learning applied to real application.
And then: Linux. This changed the world completely, at least for me at the time. When I first saw Linus' post on the minix-list, announcing his sharing of work I thought completely inapproachable and beyond the horizon, I immediately applied myself to catching up. And then, through the 90's, the commercial applications of these skills gave me an even deeper understanding of the subject - and Unix became less of a mystery and more of a resource for living. And so it was: for a decade I built Unix software, like no other, which resulted in many great things for many great people.
Then, we flipped the century bit, and Unix - in spite of all the predictions from industry experts - was still with us. It didn't just go away because of pop-culture desires and mores, it was seriously entrenched. That 80's decision seemed all the more wise in 2001, when it became clear to me that Unix was not going away.
So I kept at it. I coded all I could. I got a tiBook - astounded, but content nevertheless, that Apple (of all companies) was producing a portable Unix workstation - something that I'd dreamed of for over a decade. And there it was, the tiBook. So I've upgraded my way from there, to my current extremely satisfying device (MBP Retina) .. and beyond that, even beyond my wildest teenage dreams: here we are today - I carry around a Unix workstation in my pocket.
Its my primary means of communication, just like I always knew it would be. It does all the things that I used to do with the Risc/OS pizza box. It does it in a way that makes total sense - a simple interface, like the embodiment of the holy pipe, but at my fingertips.
It has been a challenge, a fantasy, and a real desire to see Unix become what it is today - but its also been a privilege. I think that all of my fellow hackers who professed faith in the technology, must feel the same - at least those who have watched it happen over decades. Truly, a unique human experience.
And therefore I'm really glad to see this article. It has been very enlightening - and as well, personally satisfying - to see that others recognize the power of this technology, which took decades to become the force of power that it is today.
- fsaintjacques 11y agoGood read!
- imglorp 11y agoMy first experience was at school ~ '85 on AT&T 3B2 (SYSV), and VAX (bsd4.2?), and DG/UX (who knows). There were no books or tutorials. Someone said, just read man and rn! So I did, and boy am I grateful that's how I learned.
- fit2rule 11y agoYeah, "man man" is an ethos that doesn't have much currency these days, alas .. but we still have time. Unix may well be the best-documented OS we've ever had, even still...
- pjmlp 11y agoVery good read, thanks for sharing it. I am little younger than you, my first UNIX was Xenix brought in a PC into our classes, where we got to code some IPC stuff in K&R C. Although I dislike C (I rather use C++) and enjoy other approaches to OS design besides UNIX model, I have to thank knowing UNIX for a great deal of my career. Got to use Xenix, DG/UX, Aix, Solaris, HP-UX, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD at various moments.
- DavidPlumpton 11y agoI took a university course on Unix internals in 1988. The lecturer started by announcing "this is the last year that we will teach this course as Unix is now very out of date and is being left further behind every year". It turned out to be the best course I ever took.
- bane 11y agoI remember a course I took once with the venerable Peter Denning, the hardest professor I ever had and the proudest I've ever been from a grade I received...he was giving a lecture on processes in Operating Systems and one of the students raised his hand over some minor point: "I don't think that's correct" "what's not correct?" "<whatever the minor point was> I've run ps on my linux laptop and it contradicts what you are saying" "#1, I said no computers during the lectures for this course, #2 I am in fact correct because I invented it, now either close your laptop and pay attention or get out of my class." Now, many years later, I'm constantly surprised at how pertinent and immediate what I learned in that class constantly is and how it keeps unfolding in my mind. The kind of simple, composable concepts he lectured us on have penetrated almost all of my work since then. It's amazing what robust ideas our forefathers invented from whole-cloth!