Jordan Sissel (Google) is giving a presentation about UNIX / Linux basics. Since I maybe-possibly-sortof already know UNIX, I'm really just here to help ask questions, and see one way to do an intro-to-UNIX talk.
Jordan's talk seemed to really dive right in - he quickly got to navigating around in the shell. I think I would have started with a bit more of UNIX philosophy (which I know, is probably boring), and comparing and contrasting UNIX with Windows.
The UNIX philosophy (in my mind) is:
- Clean separation of components - the Kernel is separate from the windowing system, which is separate from the web browser, which is separate from the web server. In UNIX, you can choose the components that you want to use for each function.
- Keep things simple. The basic idea is to keep commands simple, and chain them together using pipes and files.
- "Everything is a file" - in UNIX, pretty much every resource can be accessed as a file. This file-access semantic makes it possible for different commands to interoperate with each other. Think of it as the common UNIX protocol.
- Supports multiple users by design - since the beginning, UNIX has been designed to support multiple users all sharing the same system. This legacy of supporting multiple users has made UNIX quite secure.
- Clean design - The core design of UNIX has endured for over 30 years, with numerous implementations. But the fact that UNIX remains, is a testament to its elegant design.
-Andy.