Learn How UNIX Multitasks

BlueVoodoo writes "On UNIX systems, each system and end-user task is contained within a process. Learn how to control processes and use a number of commands to peer into your system."

Woop-tee-doo.

[McDutchie]

It's a basic primer on UNIX job control. Whee. Not that it isn't well done or useful to the target audience -- but how is this 'news', never mind 'stuff that matters'?

Use the Firehose!

[644bd346996]

If you think this article is stupid and an insult to your technical prowess, go to the firehose and vote it down.

They don't know how to spell "UNIX"....

[Kadin2048]

Sadly though, there are probably people graduating from "computer science" programs who only know of 'processes' as something you get after pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del and clicking on the "Task Manager" button.

You're vastly overestimating the CS curriculum, at least at my local State uni, if you think that UNIX anything is taught in the 100-level courses.

Gee Whizzes

[helixcode123]

I have mod points, but I thought I'd post instead: Look genuises. Not every slashdot reader is a Unix guru. I think this is an excellent article and does a great job explaining some of the core workings of Unix/Linux. I've been fortunate enough to be using Unix since 1981 and I actually enjoyed reading the article. It offers our Windows-centric Slashdot breatheren a nice overview.

Re:They don't know how to spell "UNIX"....

[chrism238]

That may all be true, but you don't graduate with just the 100-level courses!

Re:What the flying f*ck?

[NeoPaladin394]

This is an article in a series (labeled Introductory to Intermediate) designed to introduce to the O/S. The first article in the series [ibm.com] talks about how to use find! You can't point at an O'Reilly book and call Stupid because you know what it talks about. The article is well written and explains processes perfectly for the intended audience, and not everyone is born with the intrinsic knowledge of how every O/S in the world works. Readers on this site want a world of O/S choices, but are so willing to bash an article that will help accomplish just that? And just because it gives a quick, sentence overview of PS and LS? Unbelievable.

The article may or may not belong on the front page, but claiming someone's illiterate for not knowing stuff like this, especially if they were in an Apple or MS shop? Heaven forbid.

Stop bitchin' please

[guruevi]

Really, the article is great in explaining your manager how Unix processes work. It's a down-to-earth introductory explanation of processes and has some interesting information (which we all know, because we're all POSIX guru's) for newbie's and junior sysadmins switching to Linux/Unix/AIX

Re:Woop-tee-doo.

[billcopc]

It's called "here's a slashdotting to boost my pagerank". Whenever you see useless tripe on the internet, chances are it's designed to generate idiot traffic and/or ad revenue. Thank Google for this glut.

Re:Use the Firehose!

[Vellmont]

If you think this article is stupid and an insult to your technical prowess, go to the firehose and vote it down.

Not everyone on Slashdot is at the same level as everyone else. While I've known all the stuff in the article for 10-12 years, I'm certain there's a significant number of people here that have no idea about process forking, or what the init process is.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:They don't know how to spell "UNIX"....

[loconet]

I think one of the big problems is not so much the lack of content offered in the classroom. The bigger problem I see IMHO is the lack of interest from students as a result of a poor introduction into what UNIX really is and how it will come to play in their careers (ie: beyond their gaming desktop).

I have recently gone back to school to finish up my CS degree after having worked in the industry for several years and I'm surprised at the ignorance of UNIX/Linux's usefulness from people who have already taken a UNIX/Linux course in my school. It seems profs are jumping straight into bash scripting without properly introducing what UNIX really is, what the difference between UNIX and Linux is, how it is used today, why it is important to learn it, how it is different than Windows, the philosophy behind UNIX, how it is useful as a tool, etc. All students are being exposed to is a command line and some scripting. No context in the technology whatsoever. It is then not surprising that students come out of those courses thinking UNIX and Linux are useless since Windows/Macs do it better, easier. This results in them erasing whatever little knowledge they acquired as soon as exams are done with.

Re:Woop-tee-doo.

[ukemike]

It's a basic primer on UNIX job control. Whee. Not that it isn't well done or useful to the target audience -- but how is this 'news', never mind 'stuff that matters'?

"Looks like someone has a case of the mondays!"

I thought that the slashdot community was supportive of people migrating away from windoze to the linux world. TFA covers things that are not obvious to people that don't have *nix experience. It was a nicely written article. It might spur discussion on further basic knowledge needed to deal with linux. The whole community of "nerds" includes slide-rules to slashdot. Not every nerd is a sysadmin. To me this was useful. I already had learned 75% but had forgotten some and a bit was new and might be handy. That is "stuff that matters" to me. If nothing else cranky sysadmins, when posed with a question about something this basic, could roll their eyes condescendingly and give a link to this handy page.

The better question is why is this posted under "devcelopers"?

Re:They don't know how to spell "UNIX"....

[chrism238]

Perhaps "The Art of Unix Programming" should just become required reading?

So we all know this already, BUT...

[thorsday]

Yes, we all know about ps, sleep, kill, pid, etc. But when I began to frequent Slashdot, I was a technical dunderhead. What made Slashdot so interesting for me is that it oriented me to computer technology and operating systems, and clued me in on where technology was going. It gave me links to websites that, IMO, are generally above average in informational reliability. It still does. This article would have been useful to me several years ago. I am sure that there are people (like my former self) that are virtually computer illiterate and will appreciate any information they can get to improve their competence.

I don't want to see Slashdot dumbed down. But an occasional article that gives reliable information on the basics will not cause Slashdot to slide down that slippery slope. I will begin to worry when I can no longer find news here that is helpful to me. As far as I can tell that is a long way off.

Just keep things RELIABLE and ON TOPIC and I will be happy. I still have much to learn.

"Die Lösung des Rätsels des Lebens in Raum und Zeit liegt außerhalb von Raum und Zeit."
        -Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus