Re: [ProgSoc] Questions...

[Matt <matt@nospam.telesales.zip.com.au>]

/me pulls out his box of mostly true facts :)

On Fri, May 07, 1999 at 04:37:23PM +1000, Eliseo Christopher d'Annunzio, Esquire wrote:

> 1. Okay, this will seem like a crazy question, and almost
> bordering on the edge of insane... but could someone briefly explain
> the differences between Linux and Unix (apart from the fact that one
> of them was created by a guy so vain he named it after himself)

OK when you ask this question i assume you mean the kernels. The Linux
kernel (and this is the only part of Linux that is truely called
"Linux", media or otherwise) conforms to the POSIX set of standards
for operating systems interfaces first and formost. After that it is a
toss up between BSDisms and SVR4ism, and would seem to lean towards
SVR4 (since the SVR4 kernel is a cross between SySV r3, BSD 4.3 Tahoe,
and SunOS kernels).

As for your second statement that Linus was vain enough to call the OS
after himself i think you need to check some facts. Linus origionally
called his kernel "Freax" (sp??), but at the insistence (as the net
would have it) of his friends he renamed it Linux. Also if you had
ever met (i have, and i dont know if you have) Linus, i dont know how
you could ever have come away with that opinion. Also there are plenty
of annecdotes on the web that support Linus as being a very down to
earth guy. *shrug* im not entirely sure if he has a bloated ego, but i
would tend to think not, but your throw away lines like "apart from
the fact that one of them was created by a guy so vain he named it
after himself" say more about you than the do about anything else.

> 2. Would anyone know where I could find a general text doc
> containing general man definitions and syntax for a recent version
> of Unix? Being one who is often in a hurry, I don't have the time to
> regularly type "man command" at the prompt, nor flip through TFUM
> nor using an online version of the manual...

man intro

this should give you a complete list of commands for that part of the
man pages. ie section one is user commands, two is system calls (the
"user" interface to ther kernel proper), and three is C library
functions. Linux does not unfortunately have complete documentation
for this. Most commercial grade Unicies however should (the Solaris
ones are very good for example).

> 3. I need a recommendation for a suitable comp language to learn as
> my next step. I'm heading towards web and general PC applications
> and already have Unix and PERL under my thumb, but am stuck with
> choosing between C++, Delphi, Java and VB6... any suggestions...?

if you really want to know how computers work my suggetion is assembly
language. it is boring, it is tedious, it can be hard, but is worth
the effort. Sun SPARC machines are prevelant at UTS, heck progsoc has
a few lying around that arent being used in a "production" sense. get
a copy of the version 7 and version 8 sparc arch books and learn some
stuff.

if you dont want to learn systems stuff and are quite happy to live
purely in an apps world without understanding whats "under the hood" i
would suggest you learn Python.

	matt

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