# Resources for Chapter 3 -- Remedial Unix

## Zsh

In my daily bioinformatics work, I use Z Shell or `zsh`. Z shell was
derived from Bash and shares many features (and is largely compatable
with Bash). If you're interested in learning more about Z shell, visit
its homepage at http://zsh.sourceforge.net/.

Like most text editors and shells, you'll get the best experience in
the long run if you customize Z shell to your liking. I use a
framework for configuring Z shell called
[oh-my-zsh](https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh) which makes
this much easier. Oh-my-zsh includes community-contributed plugins for
working with Git, OS X, and other programs, as well as numerous
themes.

## History of Unix and the Unix Philosophy

 - [cat-v.org](http://cat-v.org) has the full McIlroy quote about
   [pipes](http://doc.cat-v.org/unix/pipes/).
 - [The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing
   System](http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/hist.html)

A great quote from Victor Vyssotsky, from this [stellar Bell AT&T Labs video on
Unix, featuring Thompson, Kernighan,
Ritchie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc4ROCJYbm0):


> What's important about the Unix system is not so much what Ritchie and
> Thompson put into it, as what they were able to leave out
> of it. Rather than produce a large number of primitives, each one
> complex, they were able to choose a small number of simple primitives
> which could be fitted naturally together to accomplish complex tasks.