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Unix System Programming Notes: Computer Science Department, Faculty of Engineering (ITER), S'O'A University

The document provides an introduction to Unix system programming, defining Unix and Linux operating systems and what system programming involves. It explains that system programming allows computer hardware to interface with users and programs, facilitating software execution, and discusses why the C language is preferred for system programming due to its low-level access to hardware resources.

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Dibyasundar Das
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106 views6 pages

Unix System Programming Notes: Computer Science Department, Faculty of Engineering (ITER), S'O'A University

The document provides an introduction to Unix system programming, defining Unix and Linux operating systems and what system programming involves. It explains that system programming allows computer hardware to interface with users and programs, facilitating software execution, and discusses why the C language is preferred for system programming due to its low-level access to hardware resources.

Uploaded by

Dibyasundar Das
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Unix System Programming Notes

Computer Science Department,

Faculty of Engineering (ITER),

S’O’A University

Author: Dibyasundar Das


Contents

1 Introduction 5

3
4 CONTENTS
Chapter 1

Introduction

What is Unix?

UNIX is a multi-user, multi-tasking operating system originally developed at AT&T Bell


Laboratories. It provides utilities/programs for editing text, sending email, preparing ta-
bles, performing calculations, Internet access, and many other specialized functions that
require separate application programs in other operating systems. One of the key identi-
fying features of UNIX is the standardized directory and file structure – the fiesystem.

The most important versions of UNIX are releases that started at AT&T, the latest being
System V Release 4. Other important UNIX versions have come from the University of
California at Berkeley; called BSD. Microsoft’s Xenix, (before MSDOS) was an early pop-
ular microcomputer implementation of UNIX based on AT&T release System V. Major
versions of UNIX include: SunOS, Solaris, SCO UNIX, AIX, HP/UX, and ULTRIX.

What is Linux?

GNU Linux is currently the leading popular “Open Source” implementation of a UNIX
clone standard operating system. POSIX is the validation standard, set for UNIX-like
operating systems. Starting with Windows 2000; Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7
-all have POSIX compliant kernels. Popular Linux OS distributions include: Ubuntu,
Fedora, Cygwin, UWin, GNU-win, Debian, Redhat, Knoppix, DSL, Gentu, TinyCore,
and MSys.

What is system programming?

5
6 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

• System programming involves designing and writing computer programs that allow
the computer hardware to interface with the programmer and the user, leading to
the effective execution of application software on the computer system.
• System programming is an essential and important foundation in any computer’s
application development, and always evolving to accommodate changes in the com-
puter hardware.
• The system programming enhances or extends the functions of an operating system
and may comprise components such as drivers, utilities and updates. They enable
efficient management of hardware resources such as memory, file access, I/O opera-
tions, device management and process management such as process administration
and multi-tasking.

Why C language is prefereed for system programming?

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