Chapter 23. Commanding Unix
IN THIS CHAPTER
Understanding the usefulness of the command line in a graphically interfaced world
Cracking shells
Identifying basic Unix commands
Using advanced Unix commands
Discovering commands to investigate on your own
Learning what you can do with Unix
Installing additional Unix software from Apple
Enhancing with third-party Unix software
Adding useful software to make your computer flexible and fun
Where to find more information
Mac OS X is built upon a Unix foundation. This foundation is more than a mere graft of Apple's graphical user interface (GUI) over an already existing Unix operating system. Instead, Apple integrated and developed various technologies, to create Darwin—essentially a combination of the Mach microkernel and BSD (Berkley Systems Distribution) Unix. In Darwin, Apple has made their core operating system rock solid, as well as available under the open source model. Being open source means that anybody can download the Darwin OS for free, learn from it, and/or submit bug fixes and modifications to Apple. Although Darwin is free, Mac OS X, in its entirety, is not. The fully fledged commercial version (the one you have to pay for, or that comes pre-installed on your Mac) layers the Darwin core with Apple's Aqua user interface (part of the "User Experience" layer) along with other custom-made Apple technologies like QuickTime and Bonjour (part of the "Application Services" layer) as well as the Quartz engine and Core Image graphics (part of ...
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