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- .RP
- .TL
- UNIX for Beginners
- .AU
- Brian W. Kernighan
- .AI
- Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N. J.
- .ND
- .nr PS 9
- .nr VS 11
- .if n .ls 2
- .RS
- .sp 2
- .if t .2C
- .SH Introduction
- .PP
- In many ways,
- .UC UNIX
- is
- the state of the art
- in computer operating systems.
- From the user's point of view, it is easy
- to learn and use,
- and presents few of the usual impediments
- to getting the job done.
- .PP
- It is hard, however, for the beginner
- to know where to start,
- and how to make the best use
- of the facilities available.
- The purpose of this introduction
- is to point out high spots for new users,
- so they can get used to the main ideas of
- .UC UNIX
- and start making good use of it quickly.
- .PP
- This paper is not an attempt to re-write
- the
- .ul 2
- .UC UNIX
- Programmer's Manual;
- often the discussion of something
- is simply
- ``read section x in the manual.''
- (This implies that you will need a copy of the
- .ul 2
- .UC UNIX
- Programmer's Manual.)
- Rather it suggests in what order
- to read the manual,
- and it collects together
- things that are stated only indirectly
- in the manual.
- .PP
- There are five sections:
- .IP " 1."
- Getting Started:
- How to log in to a
- .UC UNIX,
- how to type,
- what to do about mistakes in typing,
- how to log out.
- Some of this is dependent on which
- .UC UNIX
- you log into
- (phone numbers, for example)
- and what terminal you use,
- so this section must necessarily be supplemented
- by local information.
- .IP " 2."
- Day-to-day Use:
- Things you need every day to use
- .UC UNIX
- effectively:
- generally useful commands;
- the file system.
- .IP " 3."
- Document Preparation:
- Preparing manuscripts is one of the most common uses
- for
- .UC UNIX.
- This section contains advice,
- but not
- extensive instructions on any
- of the formatting programs.
- .IP " 4."
- Writing Programs:
- .UC UNIX
- is an excellent vehicle for developing programs.
- This section talks about some of the tools,
- but again is not a tutorial in any of the programming languages
- that
- .UC UNIX
- provides.
- .IP " 5."
- A
- .UC UNIX
- Reading List.
- An annotated bibliography of
- documents worth reading by new users.
-