Unix

Unix[edit | edit source]

The UNIX logo

Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix developed in the 1970s at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and others. Initially intended for use inside Bell Labs, Unix was later licensed to outside parties, leading to a wide variety of both academic and commercial versions.

History[edit | edit source]

Ken Thompson (left) and Dennis Ritchie (right), creators of Unix

Unix was first developed in the 1960s and 1970s at AT&T's Bell Labs research center. The initial version was written in assembly language, but by 1973, it was rewritten in the C programming language, which was also developed at Bell Labs. This made Unix portable across different machines, a significant advantage at the time.

In 1974, Unix was licensed to academic institutions, and the University of California, Berkeley became a significant contributor to its development, leading to the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) versions of Unix.

Features[edit | edit source]

Unix is known for its simplicity, portability, and powerful command-line interface. It supports multitasking and multiuser capabilities, allowing multiple users to access the system simultaneously. Unix systems are characterized by a modular design that includes small, simple utilities that can be combined in scripts to perform complex tasks.

Variants[edit | edit source]

Over the years, many different versions of Unix have been developed. Some of the most notable include:

Version 7 Unix running on a PDP-11 emulator

Influence and Legacy[edit | edit source]

Unix has had a profound influence on the development of many other operating systems, including Linux, which is a Unix-like system. The POSIX standard was developed to ensure compatibility between Unix systems and Unix-like systems.

Debian, a popular Unix-like operating system

Modern Unix Systems[edit | edit source]

Today, Unix systems are used in a variety of environments, from servers to workstations. Some modern Unix systems include:

macOS, developed by Apple Inc.
AIX, developed by IBM
HP-UX, developed by Hewlett-Packard

HP 9000 C110 workstation running HP-UX

Related pages[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

Salus, Peter H. (1994). "A Quarter Century of UNIX". Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-201-54777-5.
Ritchie, Dennis M. (1984). "The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System". AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Journal.

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