CS 497C - Homework 1 - Name:_________________

    DUE: Wednesday, September 5 (in class)


    Please show all work on a seperate sheet attached to this sheet.
    (50 points - 5 points for each problem)

    1. What is an operating system? List three different operating
       systems?
    
  Ans: 1) An operating system (sometimes abbreviated as "OS") is a program 
          that functions as  a virtual machine (layer of software on top of 
          bare hardware) and a resource manager (software that controls 
          access to computer).
       2) DOS, Windows, Mac OS, and UNIX.

    2. What is the distinctive characteristic about the GNU General
       Public License?

  Ans: Software developers distributing products under that that license
       must make the source code public. 

    3. Which part of the operating system is loaded into memory as soon
       as the system is booted? What does multitasking mean? 

  Ans: 1) The kernel.
       2) Multimasking means that a user can run more than one job at a
          time.

    4. What are the two agencies that distribute the labor of UNIX? What are
       their functions?

  Ans: 1) The kernel and the shell.
       2) The kernel interacts with the machine's hardware and the shell
          with the user.

    5. List three commands that you would try to log yourself out of the
       system? In most cases which one will always work?

  Ans: 1) Try [Ctrl-d], logout, and exit. 
       2) exit will always log you out.

    6. How do you stop the screen out from scrolling? How will you
       resume scrolling?

  Ans: Use [Ctrl-s] to stop scrolling and [Ctrl-q] to resume.

    7. What are TERM and SHELL? How do you evaluate their values?

  Ans: TERM and SHELL are shell variables. TERM sets the terminal type
       and SHELL specifies the user's shell. They must be prefixed with
       a $ to be evaluated, e.g. echo $SHELL.

    8. How do you suspend a job? How do you resume a suspended job?
 
  Ans: Use [Ctrl-z] to suspend a job and resume a suspended job with the fg
       command.

    9. Create a directory and change into that directory. Next, create 
       another directory in the new directory and then change to that
       directory too. Now, run cd without any arguments followed by pwd.
       What do you conclude?

  Ans: When cd is used without arguments, it returns the user to her
       home directory.

   10. What is the one thing that is common to directories, devices,
       terminals, and printer?

  Ans: They are all files in the UNIX system.