UNIX
by Brian W. Kernighan · first published 2019
61% recommend35% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
A personal, anecdotal account of Unix's creation at Bell Labs and the culture there. Its casual, whimsical tone suits anyone curious about computing history.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The fascinating story of how Unix began and how it took over the world. Brian Kernighan was a member of the original group of Unix developers, the creator of several fundamental Unix programs, and the co-author of classic books like "The C Programming Language" and "The Unix Programming Environment."
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For anyone interested in the history of UNIX development, Brian Kernhigan's "UNIX: A History and a Memoir" is a quick and enlightening read. I loved the history, and I came away with a better understanding of today's cli environment as well. https://www.amazon.com/UNIX-History-Memoir-Brian-Kernighan/d...
on “In Unix, what do some obscurely named commands stand for? (2018)” ↗“UNIX: A History and a Memoir” by Kernighan is a really fun read. Just published a few years ago as well. https://www.amazon.com/UNIX-History-Memoir-Brian-Kernighan/d...
on “Ask HN: What story from the PDP-8 era would make a good script?” ↗Recently someone on HN recommended Unix: A History and a Memoir by Brian Kernighan. I'm almost finished, and it's been a wonderful read. I love reading about the development of early programming languages and computing environments, but I…
on “Ask HN: Fun Tech Book Recommendations?” ↗The recent book by Brian Kernighan, "UNIX: A History and a Memoir" [1], was a fascinating personal memoir about the birth of Unix as well as how things used to work at AT&T Bell Labs. [1] https://www.amazon.com/UNIX-History-Memoir-Brian-Kernighan/d...
on “Gary Starkweather died on December 26, 2019” ↗UNIX: A History and a Memoir by Brian Kernighan. UNIX is the predecessor to Linux/BSD and was created at Bell laboratories. Also C was created there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Unix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_%28programming_language%29…
on “Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?” ↗UNIX: A History and a Memoir by Brian Kernighan is excellent. It traces the history of Unix from the early days at Bell Labs through the period where it reached widespread use in the rest of the world. It's…
on “Ask HN: What are some great posts or articles about history of computing?” ↗This isn't entirely specific to the internet, but rather the development of UNIX. Brian Kernighan's UNIX: A History and a Memoir [0] is great. It covers a bit of the technical underpinnings of UNIX, but also covers the people and personalities behind its development. It helped me…
on “Ask HN: Any good books on the history of the internet?” ↗"UNIX: A History and a Memoir" by B. Kernighan features both Unix creation and Bell Labs culture of its time. https://www.amazon.com/UNIX-History-Memoir-Brian-Kernighan/d...
on “Bringing back the golden days of Bell Labs” ↗> What was the origin of the idea that the Unix philosophy is "do one thing and do it well"? Relatedly: Brian Kernighan's Unix: A History and a Memoir was an enjoyable read. https://www.amazon.com/UNIX-History-Memoir-Brian-Kernighan/d... (not an…
on “Following the Unix philosophy without getting left-pad (2021)” ↗“UNIX: A History and a Memoir” by Kernighan is a really fun read. Just publushed a few years ago as well. https://www.amazon.com/UNIX-History-Memoir-Brian-Kernighan/d...
on “Music Mouse” ↗…computer architectures, or operating systems has its own history and I'm not familiar with general histories of computer science. So it's better to search for resources on specific technolgies, for example Unix. A good starting point is "UNIX: A History and a Memoir" by Brian Kernighan.
on “Ask HN: What will you suggest to fresh students of programming in 2023?” ↗UNIX: A History and a Memoir | Brian Kernhigan For me, this book finally told the human story behind so many CLI commands and ideas I'd been using for decades. https://www.amazon.com/UNIX-History-Memoir-Brian-Kernighan/d...
on “Book recommendations about the history of programming” ↗UNIX: A History and a Memoir by Brian Kernighan. Brian wrote The C Programming Language (the book), along with many other great books. He worked at Bell Labs during the time of Unix and it's a casual, whimsical…
on “Ask HN: What fiction/non-fiction book should everyone read on the topic of CS?” ↗- Philosophy of Software Design by John Ousterhout - Leviathan Wakes by James Corey - UNIX: A History and a Memoir by Brian Kernighan - Efficient Linux at the Command Line by Daniel Barrett
on “Ask HN: What were the best books you read in 2025?” ↗Unix and Linux would be your quintessential examples. Unix was an effort to take Multics, an operating system that had gotten too modular, and integrate the good parts into a more unified whole (book recommendation:…
on “Trillions spent and big software projects are still failing” ↗