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UNIX: The Basis of Modern Operating Systems

August 19, 2024 • ☕️ 3 min read • 🏷 computer, software, os

Translated by author into: English


In the world of computing, some technologies are forgotten over time, while others take root and form the basis for many other innovations. The UNIX operating system falls into this category. Developed by Dennis M. Ritchie and Ken Thompson in the early 1970s, UNIX is a revolutionary software that forms the basis of many modern operating systems today.

The Birth of UNIX: From Simplicity to Power

UNIX was initially developed as a modest time-sharing system by a small team at Bell Labs. Ritchie and Thompson’s primary goal was to create a system that would allow users to share computer resources efficiently and manage multiple processes at the same time. One of the biggest factors behind UNIX’s success was its design philosophy: simplicity, modularity, and portability.

Design Philosophy: An Extensive Minimalism

UNIX’s design philosophy was to keep the system as simple as possible for both users and developers. The system was based on each component doing only one job, but doing it in the best way possible. This philosophy applies to each of UNIX’s core tools and commands. For example, UNIX commands such as grep, find, and cat perform small tasks on their own, but can be combined to perform extremely complex operations.

This modular approach set UNIX apart from other operating systems. Users could customize the system to their own needs, develop new tools, and integrate them seamlessly with existing systems. This flexibility led to UNIX’s rapid popularity.

The File System: A World Where Everything is a File

UNIX organized the file system into a hierarchy, making it much easier for users and processes to interact with files. In the UNIX world, almost everything is considered a file: data, devices, processes, and even network connections. This approach made the system extremely easy to use and extend.

This hierarchical file system structure allowed users and applications to organize files and directories in a logical manner. This form of organization is still widely used in modern operating systems and is a testament to UNIX’s pioneering work in this area.

Process Management: From Time Sharing to Multitasking

One of the most striking features of UNIX is its innovations in process management. UNIX effectively implemented concepts such as multitasking and time sharing, allowing multiple users to use the system at the same time. This process management enabled efficient use of computer resources and brought UNIX’s performance to the top.

The lightness of processes and ease of management allowed UNIX to support multiple users and perform multiple operations simultaneously. These features made it possible for UNIX to be used on many different platforms over time.

UNIX and the C Language: The Power of Portability

The development of UNIX is also closely related to the C programming language. A large part of UNIX was written in the C language, making it easier to port the system to different hardware platforms. This portability accelerated the spread of UNIX and enabled it to become a standard operating system on different computer systems.

The C language and UNIX have gained an important place in the computer world as two intertwined technologies. Thanks to the portability of UNIX, this operating system was not limited to Bell Labs; it also became widely used in universities, research institutions, and even commercial environments.

Conclusion: The Legacy of UNIX

“The UNIX Time-Sharing System” article not only presents the technical details of UNIX, but also reveals the effects of this revolutionary system in computer science. UNIX’s principles of simplicity and portability have played a fundamental role in the design of modern operating systems and have remained valid even in today’s technological world.

The legacy of UNIX lives on in various elements of Linux, macOS, and even Windows. For developers and technology enthusiasts, UNIX is not just an operating system, it is also a design philosophy and a way of thinking. Therefore, understanding UNIX is a journey into the origins of modern computer science.

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