Everything about Unix

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

1. Read the overview: UnixA 5-minute orientation
2. Skim a recent paper: Comparing lesson plan-driven and ask-me-anything chatbots: teaching a UNIX Shell courseInfluential work since 2022
3. Pick up a classic book: The C Programming LanguageThe most-reprinted book on the subject
4. Read the landmark paper: NMRPipe: A multidimensional spectral processing system based on UNIX pipesCited 14,101 times
5. Go sideways: History of UnixA closely related topic
6. Go sideways: Unix-likeA closely related topic

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

• NMRPipe: A multidimensional spectral processing system based on UNIX pipes

  Frank Delaglio, Stephan Grzesiek, GeertenW. Vuister · 1995 · Journal of Biomolecular NMR · 14,101 citations

• obitools: a unix‐inspired software package for DNA metabarcoding

  Frédéric Boyer, Céline Mercier, Aurélie Bonin · 2015 · Molecular Ecology Resources · 1,088 citations

• An empirical study of the reliability of UNIX utilities

  Barton P. Miller, Lars Fredriksen, Bryan So · 1990 · Communications of the ACM · 987 citations

• The UNIX time-sharing system

  Dennis M. Ritchie, Ken Thompson · 1974 · Communications of the ACM · 750 citations

• A fast file system for UNIX

  Marshall K. McKusick, William N. Joy, Samuel J. Leffler · 1984 · ACM Transactions on Computer Systems · 366 citations

• Phyx: phylogenetic tools for unix

  Joseph W Brown, Joseph F Walker, Stephen A Smith · 2017 · Bioinformatics · 334 citations

• PhyKIT: a broadly applicable UNIX shell toolkit for processing and analyzing phylogenomic data

  Jacob L Steenwyk, Thomas J Buida, Abigail L Labella · 2021 · Bioinformatics · 233 citations

• The UNIX Time-Sharing System†

  D. M. Ritchie, K. Thompson · 1978 · Bell System Technical Journal · 187 citations

🆕 Influential since 2022

• Comparing lesson plan-driven and ask-me-anything chatbots: teaching a UNIX Shell course

  Jose Berengueres · 2025 · Discover Education · 3 citations

• Rewriting the Unix Stream Editor in Rust [Adventures in Code]

  Diomidis Spinellis · 2025 · IEEE Software · 3 citations

• Mental Workload Evaluation for PMM Outbound Student in X University (Unix) Using NASA-TLX Method

  Wildanul Isnaini, Halwa Annisa Khoiri, Putri Cahyaningtyas · 2022 · Spektrum Industri · 2 citations

• ISTRICI – Tools for facilitating seismic depth imaging and velocity analysis with seismic unix

  Umberta Tinivella, Michela Giustiniani · 2023 · Computers & Geosciences · 2 citations

• Modern Approaches to Unix Automation: Shell Scripting, Configuration Management, and Security

  Sambasiva Rao Madamanchi · 2025 · International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology · 2 citations

📚 Books worth reading

• The C Programming LanguageBrian W. Kernighan, Dennis MacAlistair Ritchie · 1978
• The little disturbances of manGrace Paley · 1959
• LinuxTim Parker · 1996
• Advanced programming in the Unix environmentW. Richard Stevens, Stephen A. Rago · 1992
• UNIX Power ToolsJerry Peek, Tim O'Reilly · 1993
• Learning the UNIX Operating SystemJerry Peek, Grace Todino-Gonguet · 1985
• UNIX for programmers and usersGraham Glass, King Ables · 1899
• UNIX for dummiesJohn R. Levine, Margaret Levine Young · 1993

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics

• History of Unix The history of Unix dates back to the mid-1960s, when the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bell Labs, and General Electric were jointly developing…
• Unix-like A Unix-like operating system (sometimes referred to as a UN*X, *nix or *NIX) is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily…
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• Berkeley Software Distribution The Berkeley Software Distribution, also known as BSD or Berkeley UNIX, is a Unix based operating system developed and distributed by the Computer Systems…
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• Comparison of user features of operating systems Comparison of user features of operating systems refers to a comparison of the general user features of major operating systems in a narrative format.…
• Sharity In computing, Sharity is a program to allow a Unix system to mount SMB fileshares. It is developed by Christian Starkjohann of Objective Development Software…
• Chattr chattr is the command in Linux that allows a user to set certain attributes of a file. lsattr is the command that displays the attributes of a file. Most…