ALICE IN UNIX LAND
                          (a quick cheat sheet)


640K    = the original memory limit of a DOS system.  Adding memory chips
          did not help, because the operating system could only access the
          first 640 Kilobytes of memory.  This was later changed and
          slightly improved.
string  = a Unix/c/c++ term referring to ascii text
grep    = a unix command used to search through such text
nroff   = [Unix, from "new {roff}"] A text formatting language
	  and interpreter, companion to the Unix typesetter {troff},
awk     = An interpreted language, included with many versions of Unix,
          for massaging text data. 
mount   = a standard unix command used to make an I/O device available
          to the system.  EG. a disk drive or tape file must first 
          be mounted before the system recognizes its existence.
OPEN LOOK =  A GUI/window manager from SUN Microsystems and AT&T. 
NEXTSTEP  =  A multitasking operating system created by NeXT Software
             to run on a variety of hardware systems, including PCs and
             SUN machines.  The 3.3 release became "OpenStep".
             After NeXT was bought by Apple Computer, Inc.
             OpenStep was merged/replaced by "Rhapsody".
spawn   = A unix command which creates a {child process} in a
	  {multitasking} {operating system}.  E.g. {Unix}'s {fork}
nice    = a unix command used to lower the execution prriority of a program,
          usually used to make a program run in the background,
          allowing other processes to run faster 
rem     = in BASIC (a DOS programming language) this denotes a comment line
edlin   = an old and much disliked DOS editing tool
chkdsk  = a DOS utility to check a disk for formatting and/or FAT errors


cheat sheet:  the characters:
MAD HACKER = a super-techie type, ubiquitous in the programming world,
     these originally showed up in the Unix community, which is still
     their favorite environment.  The rite of passage for these
     individuals is to "hack root", ie break into someone else's
     computer and take control of the system by impersonating the
     "owner" of the root directory.
DORMOUSE =    OS/2
BLUE ELEPHANT = IBM 
Job Sparrow = Steve Jobs, co-founder and guru of Apple Software
SUN BEAR =    SUN Microsystems, the company that dominated the Unix
              community in the 1980's
WOODPECKER =  (if you know this one please let me know)
PENGUIN =     Linux

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(more detailed definitions are available from 
 the Free On Line Dictionary of Computing)