What is this course about?

This course teaches you how to unlock the hidden processing power in your UNIX system. UNIX contains many tools and utilities that can help the user automate tasks and improve productivity. This course provides an overview of these topics, giving you valuable perspective on a huge and unwieldy area that could take months or years to learn on your own.

What are UNIX tools and utilities?

UNIX, unlike other operating systems, was designed to be a programmer's toolset. As such it contains a wealth of little "gadgets" that can make the operating system much easier to use, if you know the resources available to you. The UNIX tools and utilities we cover in this course include the shell, commands, filters, and even languages such as awk.

Who will benefit from this course?

The course is for people who want to become UNIX power users and exploit the advanced features and facilities of UNIX. Typical participants include system administrators, database administrators, programmers, technical support staff-or anyone who wants to maximise the power of their UNIX system.

What background do I need?

This course assumes that participants:

• Have experience with user-level UNIX commands such as ls, rm, cd, cp, mv, and mkdir
• Are familiar with functional tools such as pipes and I/O redirection
• Know how to perform simple file editing with a basic text editor such as vi or emacs

Some Bourne shell scripting experience is helpful but is not required. Course 428, UNIX^®: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, or Course 143, Linux^®: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, provides an adequate background for this course.

How much programming experience do I need to take this course?

Some experience programming in any language is helpful but not essential. You should, at the least, possess the "programmer's mindset"-the ability to think in a logical or structured manner.

Does this course apply to the XXX version of UNIX?

In a word, yes! This course currently uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux. However, the course focuses on those aspects of UNIX and Linux that do not vary much from vendor to vendor; our purpose is to help you feel at home on any Linux or UNIX-based system you might use.

How much of the course material applies to other operating systems?

This is a course about software tools that originated in the UNIX environment and that are included as part of a standard UNIX or Linux distribution. All of the course material applies to the UNIX-based Mac OS X. Also, ports of UNIX tools to other operating systems are available from a number of public domain and commercial sources. If you obtain these tools, about 90 percent of the course material will apply to other operating systems, including Microsoft Windows and VAX/VMS.

Does this course cover shell programming? awk? Perl?

This course devotes about one and a half days to writing Bourne shell scripts and a half-day to awk. The course does not discuss Perl. Those with an interest in Perl should attend Course 431, Introduction to Perl Programming: Hands-On.

How much time is spent on each topic?

How much course time is devoted to hands-on exercises?

About 40 percent of the time is spent working on the hands-on exercises. However, this time does vary depending on the needs of each class.

Will this course enable me to install my own UNIX or Linux system? Troubleshoot a UNIX or Linux network? Do UNIX programming?

Course 396 is essentially an advanced power user course. As such it's useful to everyone working on a UNIX platform and provides critical background knowledge for anyone moving on to do more intensive work with the platform.

If you plan to do UNIX workstation and server support, the skills gained in 396 form a good foundation but must be augmented by courses such as Course 144, Linux^® Administration and Support: Hands-On.

If you're doing programming for the UNIX platform, this course can give you perspective on the resources available for the platform, but that knowledge must be augmented with a standard programming language such as C, C++, or Java.

How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses?

This course is an ideal follow-on to Course 428, UNIX^®: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, or Course 143, Linux^®: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, which provides a strong overview of the UNIX and Linux operating system. Course 336 and Course 428 introduces UNIX utilities-such as sed and awk-and this course expands on them and covers new features and options for their use. The UNIX curriculum contains a wide variety of other courses. Those interested in building further skills working with UNIX and Linux might try:

• 431, Introduction to Perl Programming: Hands-On covers the popular Perl programming language in depth.
• 144, Linux® Administration and Support: Hands-On provides the knowledge and skills to install and configure Linux servers for reliability, functionality and performance.
• 433, UNIX® and Linux® Security: Hands-On outlines areas of vulnerability for UNIX and Linux systems, and explores strategies for improving system security.