u/armersuenderin r/compsci • Recommends
Found this gem today! AT&T Archives: The UNIX Operating System
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AT&T Archives: The UNIX Operating System
AT&T Tech Channel
122K subscribers • 7 videos on Hallway
- Recommended by 14 people: 10 on Hacker News, 3 on Lobsters and 1 in engineering communities.
- A classic. People kept recommending it from 2013 to 2026.
- Presented by Victor Vyssotsky, Bell Labs computer scientist
- Made by the vendor. The company whose product it covers made or sponsored it.
Beginner. No background in the topic needed.
2.2M views14 years ago14 recommendations
Systems programmingHistory and cultureOperating systemsHistory of computingThe shell and command line
This 1982 Bell Labs film introduces the design philosophy of the UNIX operating system, demonstrating pipes, filters, and shell scripting.
Watch new AT&T Archive films every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at techchannel.att.com/archives In the late 1960s, Bell Laboratories computer scientists Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson started work on a project that was inspired by an operating system called Multics, a joint project of MIT, GE, and Bell Labs. The host and narrator of this film, Victor Vyssotsky, also had worked on the Multics project. Ritchie and Thompson, recognizing some of the problems with the Multics OS, set out to create a more useful, flexible, and portable system for programmers to work with. What's fascinating about the growth of UNIX is the long amount of time that it was given to develop, almost organically, and based on the needs of the users and programmers. The first installation of the program was done as late as 1972 (on a NY Telephone branch computer). It was in conjunction with the refinement of the C programming language, principally designed by Dennis Ritchie. Because the Bell System had limitations placed by the government that prevented them from selling software, UNIX was made available under license to universities and the government. This helped further its development, as well as making it a more "open" system. This film "The UNIX System: Making Computers More Productive", is one of two that Bell Labs made in 1982 about UNIX's significance, impact and usability. Even 10 years after its first installation, it's still an introduction to the system. The other film, "The UNIX System: Making Computers Easier to Use", is roughly the same, only a little shorter. The former film was geared towards software developers and computer science students, the latter towards programmers specifically. The film contains interviews with primary developers Ritchie, Thompson, Brian Kernighan, and many others. While widespread use of UNIX has waned, most modern operating systems have at least a conceptual foundation in UNIX. Footage courtesy of AT&T Archives and History Center, Warren, NJWhy it's here
14 people recommend thisWhat people say. Widely shared as the classic, most relaxing, and clearest explanation of UNIX pipelines and the Unix philosophy.
Moments people linked to
krmbzdson Hacker News • Recommends
On “The Shell Introduction I Wish I Had”
Nice guide. cd ~ command goes to home directory though, not root. I wish someone showed me the UNIX operating system introduction by Kernighan et al before anything else. It can be found in AT&T arhives: link to this video
gftsantanaon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan”
> Recently I discovered the AT&T history channel, with this gem: link to this video I go back to this video every once in a while ever since I discovered it a few years ago. I just think it is super relaxing. When I first watched it, I was beginning to use Linux and, when I opened my terminal emulator, I was like: "It's a Unix system, I know this!" The pipelines explanation was incredibly clear. I also love the Computerphile episodes with professor Kernighan.
GNOMESon Hacker News • Recommends
On “The Unix Pipe Card Game”
This gets shared a ton, but the old Bell Labs video from 4:56 to 10:52 is still the best way I have seen pipes explained: link to this video
tubboon Lobsters • Recommends
AT&T Archives: The UNIX Operating System
Probably the best example of the UNIX philosophy I've ever watched. :)
gitgudon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Ask HN: What is the most beautiful piece of code you've ever read?”
For me it's the unix example in 1 "AT&T Archives: The UNIX Operating System" . $ makewords sentences | lowercase | sort | unique | mismatch - It reads a file called sentences then prints the words that are not spelled correctly. To me it's; concise, expressive, flexible, modular... Which makes it beautiful... 1 link to this video
koffiezeton Hacker News • Recommends
On “Unix: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan”
I'm always amazed how well Brian Kernighan can explain things. I love the episodes on the Computerphile youtube channel with him. Recently I discovered the AT&T history channel, with this gem: link to this video There is a massive difference in appearance and clarity between him and the other people appearing in that video, even the "presenter"...
teleforceon Hacker News • Recommends
On “The Birth of Unix with Brian Kernighan”
This is an old but informative video on UNIX system productivity by AT&T hosted by Brian Kernighan 1. Fun fact, the original unused PDP-7 computer mentioned in the article that being utilized by Ken Thompson to first develop UNIX actually belongs to another well-funded sound processing research group in Bell Labs. 1 link to this video
usrbinbashon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Lorinda Cherry, author of dc, bc, eqn has died”
Rest in Peace! Her demonstration of the capabilities of the (then novel) pipes and scripts of the Unix Operating System is one of the best parts of this documentary: link to this video
digisignon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?”
…. - "The Professor" at Computerphile is a great story teller about the early days. - There are great videos about CTSS being developed at MIT I think, where they are designing an operating system via paper terminal and trying to decide on how to partition the memory/storage: link - The Introducing Unix videos by ATT are straight from the source: link to this video - The movie/book "Hidden Figures" touches on this time as well. Facing obsolescence by IBM, one of the characters teaches herself Fortran. - The Pirates of Silicon Valley is a fun dramatization of the late 70s to 80s PC industry. It specifically calls out the meeting between MS and IBM as the deal of the…
rpigabon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Coffee with Brian Kernighan [video]”
bwk is awesome AT&T Archives: The UNIX Operating System : link to this video Coolest guy in this video, casually explaining pipes while resting his feet on the desk.
shevy-javaon Hacker News • Recommends
On “Kernighan on Programming”
One of the few living oldschool UNIX legends still alive. Here is when he was young: link to this video Kind of explains in an epic manner why pipes were useful back then. They are still useful, but computers are so much more powerful that many techniques back then came primarily because their computers were not as powerful. I still, oddly enough, prefer the hardware of the 1970s, 1980s, almost early 1990s too. Today's hardware is much better, but I am nowhere as interested in it; it is now just like a common tool.
pushcxon Lobsters • Recommends
The UNIX System: Making Computers More Productive (1982)
u/-__iin r/compsci • Mentions
On “What are the greatest breakthroughs in Computer Science?”
here's a neat (and extremely 80s-ish) bell labs vid i watched the other day: link to this video
u/craiigin r/compsci • Mentions
On “PC vs Mac benefits for future computer science student”
Yep! It comes down to preference. It's basically because of the various tools and utilities that are available freely on all UNIX systems that you can't find on Windows machines. The GNU tools, and others. and how you work with them are super productive. (You *can* put lots of these tools on Windows, or find them on Windows, but it's just not as easily accessible as on a true unix system.)
You might be interested in watching this. It's very old but they explain what makes unix and it's associated tools so great. In particular, around the 5-10+ minute mark.