Program(s): IT Operations, UNIX Operating Systems
Program Coordinator(s): Multiple Coordinators
Course Leader or Contact: N/A
Version: 1.0
Status: Approved (APPR)

Section I Notes: N/A

Detailed Description
This hands-on course provides an introduction to the UNIX Operating System. It covers utilities, file systems, the shell environment, shell scripts and other scripting languages, other scripts, online editors and security.

Program Context

 Critical Performance
By the end of this course, students will have demonstrated the 
ability to:

Perform basic system support services in a LINUX / UNIX environment.

Learning Outcomes
To achieve the critical performance, students will have demonstrated 
the ability to:

- Summarize the history of the UNIX Operating System
- Compare characteristics of UNIX with other operating systems
- Use command-line and GUI tools to interact with the OS
- Illustrate how UNIX manages files and directories
- Restate main differences between major popular shells
- Use file system tools
- Obtain information about other users and the user environment
- Customize individual user environments
- Use ASCII text editors to create data file and scripts
- Use redirection, pipes and filters to make commands more efficient
- Solve simple problems by programming in shell scripting languages
- Monitor LINUX / UNIX processes

Mid Term Test 	                        30%
Final Exam                              30%
Labs & Quizzes	(2 to 4)                20%
Assignments     (2 to 4)                20%
                                        ---
                                       100%

Faculty members teaching this course agree to the following 
practices:
Sheridan wishes to encourage behaviours that will help 
students be successful in the workplace, and to ensure that students 
receive credit for their individual work. 

1.  For submission of assignments and projects, the faculty 
member will specify, on the class plan:  

a)	Due dates and special instructions for submissions 
b)	Deductions for overdue submissions 

2.  Exams must be written as scheduled by the faculty member. A 
make-up exam is at the faculty member's discretion provided that the 
student has an acceptable reason for their absence and may be asked 
for documented evidence, such as a medical certificate, explaining 
their absence. These special situations must be discussed with the 
faculty member immediately once the situation becomes known. Semester 
time constraints may limit rewrite options. 

3.  To pass the course, students must achieve at least 50% 
overall in the course, as well as a 50% weighted average across the 
tests and the exams combined.

No textbook required

Module 1 (learning outcomes 1,2)
(5%)
The Essence of Unix / Linux: Introduction
-	Discuss background and philosophy of computers
-	Summarize the history of the UNIX Operating System
-	Compare characteristics of UNIX with other OS
-	Illustrate features and advantages of using the Unix OS
-	Practice logging on and off the computer network (login,
        logout,  exit, poweroff, shutdown)
-	Linux Installation & Setup
-	Moving around in Linux

Module 2  (learning outcome 3)
(10%)
Linux Command Line
-	Identify elements of the command window
-	Examine the properties of the command window (stty)
-	Describe how Linux processes data (STDIN, STDOUT, STDERR)
-	Form command sequences, group commands
-	Use redirection, pipes, filters to make commands more
        efficient
-	Experiment with commands to develop a "feel" for Unix
        (utilities: cal, date, who)
-	Getting help (man, info, apropos, whatis)
-	List, browse, and recall previous commands (history)
-	Splitting redirection to more than one place (tee)

Module 3 (learning outcomes 4,9) ; [quiz #1]
(5%)
Linux Files
-	Understand files and file types
-	Name files that you create (namespace standards)
-	Display contents of text files (cat, less, more, tail, head)
-	Create empty files or modify file dates (touch)
-	Use ASCII text editors to create data file (vi)
-	Learn basic text-file editing with vi (pico/nano)
-	Delete, duplicate and rename files (cp, mv, rm)

Module 4 (learning outcome 6)
(10%)
Linux File System
-	Illustrate how UNIX manages files and directories
-	Partitions, Master Boot Record, Partition Table (mount)
-	File system types (NTFS, fat32, ext3...)
-	Folder: the graphical representation of a directory
-	parent-child relationship of directories and their content
-	use shortcuts for the current working directory, the parent,
        the root, and user's home directory (tilde, dot, dotdot)
-	construct a directory tree to organize an Unix account   
        (mkdir )
-	distinguish between relative and absolute pathnames
-	navigate a directory tree (cd, ls, pwd)
-	duplicate and rename directories (cp, mv)
-	delete directories without removing entire account (rmdir,
        rm)

Module 5 (learning outcomes 4,6) ; [lab #1]
(10%)
Linux File Attributes
-	Understand Linux security 
-	View and modify file permissions (chmod, chown, chage,
        chgrp, umask)
-	Protect your account with restrictive permissions (SUID, GUID)
-	Understand and check various types of files (file)
-	Special files (character and block)
-	Create hard and symbolic links between files (ln)
-	Search for files and directories in a directory tree (find,
        locate)
-	Compressed files (gzip, gunzip)
-	View non-ASCII files (od, strings, file)
-	Find info and location programs (which, whereis)

Module 6 (learning outcomes 5,8)
(5%)
Interactive Shell Environment
-	Restate main differences between major popular shells
-	Describe the common shell features
-	Discuss how to choose a shell
-	access, set, and change local and environment variables
        (export env printenv setenv unsetenv)
-	identify and change your login shell (chsh)
-	Customize your prompt (PS1)
-	set your command path (PATH)
-	Create nicknames for long/complex commands (alias unalias) 

Module 7 (learning outcomes 6,7) ; [Mid Test]
(5%)
Advanced Commands
-	flat-file database tables (rows, columns, delimiters)
-	manipulate flat-file tables ( join, cut, paste, sort, pr )
-	count the characters, words, and lines, spell-check, and sort
        the contents of a file
-	Obtain information about other users (/etc/passwd)
-	compare files in different fashion (cmp, diff, comm)
-	Root Users  (su, sudo)
-	Basic user management (useradd, passwd)
-	Networking basics (ssh, scp, ping, netstat, ifconfig)

Module 8 (learning outcomes 9, 11) [assignment #1]
(10%)
Bash Script Programming
-	Understand the different kinds of languages
-	Define the programming process
-	Discuss instances where scripts are useful
-	Documenting scripts (inline documentation)
-	Write, test, and debug scripts to automate common tasks
-	Variables (user-defined, shell, environment)
-	Operators (assignment)
-	View and modify Bash shell's configuration files
-	Use ASCII text editors to create scripts


Module 9 (learning outcome 10) 
(10%)
Filters with Regular Expressions
-	Understand how to write a basic regular expression
-	Search for text in a file or a group of files in the same
        directory with a regular expression
-	Use modifiers: asterisk (*) and period (.)
-	Use anchors:  hat (^) and ($)
-	Use character sets, i.e. [abc], [0-9], [^abc]
-	Use escape character \
-	Using grep, egrep, fgrep, vi

Module 10 (learning outcomes 10, 11)
(5%)
Batch Editing and Filtering
-	Modify and substitute patterns
-	Print and delete lines
-	Use basic awk to transform and format files
-	Using awk scripts (print, printf, $1, $2,...) and sed

Module 11 (learning outcomes 9, 11) ; [assignment #2]
(15%)
Advanced Bash Scripts 
-	Solve simple problems by programming shell scripts
-	Control structures (decisions: if, case; iteration: while,
        for; sequence: when to use semi-colon)
-	Operators (arithmetic, conditional, file)
-	Command line arguments ($0, $n, $#)
-	Documenting scripts: Create manual pages (groff, man)

Module 12 (learning outcome 12)
(5%)
Linux Processes
-	Hierarchical structure of a process tree
-	Explain process attributes 
-	Inter-process communication (signal, queue, pipe)
-	Display a basic/customized listing of processes (ps, top)
-	Examine memory and disk usage (free, du, df)
-	Suspend/place process in background, foreground (bg, fg, jobs)
-	Terminate a process and its zombies (kill)
-	(optional) Get information from /proc

Module 13 (learning outcome 3) ; [Final Exam]
(5%)
X Windows and Desktop Managers
-	Client vs. server environments, and the Internet
-	Linux distributions (Debian, Redhat, Suse, and descendents)
-	Determine the appropriate runlevels
-	Unix Graphical Interface-X Window system
-	Understand relationships between console, terminal in CLI /GUI
-	Recognize and define components: XFree86, X server, X client,
        X protocol, Windows manager, KDE/QT, GNOME/GTK+