The Birth of UNIX With Brian Kernighan - CoRecursive Podcast
When you work on your computer, there are so many things you take for granted: operating systems, programming languages, they all have to come from somewhere.
They were building more than just an operating system though. They were building a way to work with computers that had never existed before.
Adam:When you work on your computer, there are so many things you take for granted: operating systems, programming languages, they all have to come from somewhere. In the 1960s, that somewhere was Bell Labs, and the operating system they were building was Unix. They were building more than just an operating system though. They were building a way to work with computers that had never existed before. To find out more, I reached out to this guy.
Adam:Brian coins from Unix. He’s the K in K&R, the famous book about C that still tops most recommended book lists. He was part of this computer science research group at Bell Labs for 30 years. He’s going to share the story of the creation of Unix, and hopefully, I’m going to try to figure out some of their secrets to being so impactful. Along the way, we’re going to have to learn about the Unix philosophy and printing patent applications, but we’re also going to have to learn about 10-kilo chocolate bars and fake demos to the CIA, and of course, British satirical magazines.
Adam:The story of Unix is a story about Bell Labs, so let’s start at the beginning when Brian is a grad student and he gets an internship to work there for the summer.
