Tag Archives: UNIX history
Building UNIX
UNIX was born from the ashes of the MULTICS project at Bell Labs. Although many people involved in MULTICS contributed to UNIX, it really was the creation of one brilliant software designer: Ken Thompson. As discussed in my previous blog post, Bell … Continue reading
How UNIX Came to Be
MULTICS suffered from second system syndrome. That’s a good thing, because the failure of MULTICS inspired us to create UNIX. As I’ve discussed in a previous post, when I assembled a team to build a time-sharing system the project was criticized … Continue reading
Building Software Then and Now
The tools we use to craft software have changed radically since my first job, but the art remains much the same. Today it is not unusual for a 26 year old to hire and lead a team of programmers. In … Continue reading
Boring Software Job Becomes Bold Adventure
It’s a very good thing that my first job after graduate school was boring, because that boredom led me to take a bold step to fix it. My boring software job turned into an adventure and my most enjoyable job. … Continue reading
How I Learned to Love UNIX
Sometimes the confluence of several events, no one of which is significant, can lead to profound consequences. This happened to me in college and graduate school, where the combination of seven events led to my role in co-inventing UNIX. As … Continue reading