Summary

This has been a bit of a whirlwind through some topics related to running programs on Linux or UNIX-like systems, with us learning a little bit about things that apply to all programs (how and where they get input, and how and where they send output).

Depending on the path you take through CS, you may eventually learn about the underlying mechanisms of how this all works (maybe) in an operating systems course, specifically about how an operating system (OS) represents “processes” (running programs) as a data structure, and how the OS keeps track of files that a process has open (STDIN, STDOUT, and STDERR are all special file-like-things™; neat 📷).

But let’s be honest: backing up stuff is boring. Well, it’s boring right up until you actually need the back up. And sometimes we don’t think about backups right up until we need them. This week is an opportunity to consider what you’re doing for back ups, and to give you an opportunity to back up your stuff.

Backing up isn’t just making sure that you’ve got a copy of your files, it’s copying your files across devices and locations. It’s also a choice of how you do back ups in the first place: file-based or image-based.

Regardless of how you do back ups, restoring and verifying your back ups is an essential part of confirming that you actually have a back up and not just a bunch of random bits and bytes.

You should now be able to:

Now you should be ready to start working on the assignment this week!