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System

Unix

Operating System

Unix is an operating system created by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs beginning in 1969, and rewritten in the C programming language in the early 1970s, a decision that made it practical to port across many different kinds of computer hardware for the first time. Its design principles, small programs that each do one thing well and can be combined together, a unified treatment of files and devices, and a hierarchical file system, influenced nearly every operating system that followed it, including the many Unix like systems still in wide use today such as Linux and macOS.

Facts
Year
1969 2
Significance
Its design principles and its C based portability shaped nearly every operating system that followed, including today's Unix like systems such as Linux and macOS. 2
Status
Status
Active / In Use 1
Connections

In Field

Operating Systems, Fields
Source Computer History Museum

Invented By

Dennis Ritchie, Pioneers
Source ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations
Ken Thompson, Pioneers
Source ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations

Preceded By

Multics, Systems
Source Wikipedia: Multics

Predecessor Of

Linux, Systems

Linux was originally designed as a clone of Unix.

Source Wikipedia: Linux
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Unix
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Overview
    Unix systems are characterized by a modular design that is sometimes called the 'Unix philosophy'.
  • Lead sentence
    Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, the development of which started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and others.
View the Source
2. Computer History Museum
Computer History MuseumView the Source
Wikidata: Unix
Wikidata Q11368, resolved via en.wikipedia pageprops (wave rule R-L)View the Source
ACM A.M. Turing Award Citations
Association for Computing Machinery
  • Invented By: Dennis Ritchie
  • Invented By: Ken Thompson
View the Source
Wikipedia: Linux
Wikimedia FoundationPredecessor Of: Linux, Overview section
Quote, Predecessor Of: Linux, Overview section
Linux was originally designed as a clone of Unix and is distributed under the copyleft GPL license
View the Source
Wikipedia: Multics
Wikimedia FoundationPreceded By: Multics, Opening paragraph, on Unix reactionView the Source
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