Intro to Unix

Terms You Should Know

The purpose of this lesson is to collect a list of terms about Unix that a beginning user should know.

Each term is linked to its definition at the Free Online Dictionary of Computing (If the Web site on the terms on this page don't work; try http://foldoc.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc, http://foldoc.usefulcontent.org, or http://www.foldoc.org).

• computer
• directory
• email
• file
• file system
• ftp
• hardware
• Internet
• kernel
• login
• modem
• multitasking
• network
• operating system
• password
• pathname
• Ritchie, Dennis
• software
• shell
• telnet
• time sharing
• Thompson, Ken
• unix
• vi

Exercise: Talk about these terms

If someone stopped you in the street and demanded to know your definition of these terms, what would you say?