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Ask HN: Do you understand your operating system?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you understand your operating system?

#11

Post by aurora72 »

You miss something the author's talked about and it's the transition from GNU/Linux to BSD

I assume he/she wants to have a more understandable OS; and because the BSD's excel at that area, I guess she/he's referring to the BSD's.

Windows --> Great but I still cannot understand some of its peculiarities such as unexpected crashes, sudden explorer.exe restarts.

MAC OS --> Great but I still cannot understand just why its USB connection speeds are interestingly low or why it has such an inadequate Unicode support for different FileSystems like NTFS.

Linux --> All great, but I cannot figure out why there are so many different package managers out there?

As for BSD, because it's structure is so well-founded there's nothing which is not understandable. Everything's got its place where you'd expect them: Ports collection under /usr/ports, and package manager is just the pkg_add command. There are no window-manager or desktop-environments pre-loaded and configured, you just chose what to do. And the kernel structure is extremely simple: You can add extra functionality to kernel easily with the Loadable Kernel Module (KLM) concept. That's it, everthing's under control.

Re: Ask HN: Do you understand your operating system?

#14

Post by ErrantX »

synnik wrote: post #9

Or, at an even lower level... do you understand your hardware? Not just disk space and memory, as most programmers need to know those... But do you know how the keyboard works? USB? How the processor receives/manages all the signals? I did know all this, 10 years ago... I haven't kept up with newer systems, but even that basic understanding helps in many subtle ways.

Slightly as an aside but one source of amusement for me is programmers or sysadmins who cant tell you the difference between a serial and parallel comms link (beyond the obvious) and how one might work.

"Explain how a USB keyboard interacts with a computer" is one of my favourite interview questions at the moment. A surprising number of people can't tell you an in depth answer and you either hear:

- it's serial err no idea beyond that

- serial connection, I guess..

- random bullshit about bits and serial (they can waffle for hours)

Really good for seeing them come up with creative solutions. Couple it with a whiteboard and work through the electronics with them and you can have a great interview.

(I started to do the whiteboard thing after one interviewee asked for a pen/paper to try and sketch out what he was thinking)

Re: Ask HN: Do you understand your operating system?

#17

Post by ern »

ErrantX wrote: post #14
synnik wrote: post #9

Or, at an even lower level... do you understand your hardware? Not just disk space and memory, as most programmers need to know those... But do you know how the keyboard works? USB? How the processor receives/manages all the signals? I did know all this, 10 years ago... I haven't kept up with newer systems, but even that basic understanding helps in many subtle ways.

Slightly as an aside but one source of amusement for me is programmers or sysadmins who cant tell you the difference between a serial and parallel comms link (beyond the obvious) and how one might work. "Explain how a USB keyboard interacts with a computer" is one of my favourite interview questions at the moment. A surprising number of people can't tell you an in depth answer and you either hear: - it's serial err n…

Do the sysadmins and programmers you are interviewing need to understand the innards of a USB keyboard as part of their job function? If it's not part of their job description, then I am not surprised at all.

Re: Ask HN: Do you understand your operating system?

#18

Post by ovi256 »

pstevensza wrote: post #13

I thought I knew FreeBSD until I joined a couple of the lists and realised that I've hardly scratched the surface. It used to bother me that I didn't know. These days, I can accept it, and enjoy my occasional dip into the unknown when I need to change something.

  These days, I can accept it
And one day, you buy a Mac. Trust me. You want to.

Re: Ask HN: Do you understand your operating system?

#19

Post by ErrantX »

ern wrote: post #17
ErrantX wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Slightly as an aside but one source of amusement for me is programmers or sysadmins who cant tell you the difference between a serial and parallel comms link (beyond the obvious) and how one might work. "Explain how a USB keyboard interacts with a computer" is one of my favourite interview questions at the moment. A surprising number of people can't tell you an in depth answer and you either hear: - it's serial err n…

Do the sysadmins and programmers you are interviewing need to understand the innards of a USB keyboard as part of their job function? If it's not part of their job description, then I am not surprised at all.

nope, and their answer is fairly irrelevant.

If they have the balls to say "no idea, why do I need to know" that is someone we like. If they say that and then attempt to work out an answer extra bonus points. If they stumble they get no set back - it is a random question. If they bullshit they are marked down a fair way - not the kind of person we want.

(we design it to be a question you have to actively fuck up to be marked down on)

We sit and work through an answer together and you get a real insight into them outside their area of expertise (where you would expect them to be slick)

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