Using COHERENT -- Overview

For an ordinary  user -- that is, one who  neither administers the COHERENT
system nor writes programs for it -- using COHERENT mainly involves issuing
commands to the COHERENT system.

The Lexicon entry commands names every command that comes with the COHERENT
system.  The  commands are grouped by function.   You should look carefully
at the shell  commands -- that is, the commands  that work closely with the
shell  to help  you control  the execution of  other commands.   What other
groups you study will depend on just what you want to do with your COHERENT
system.

Pay particular  attention to the Lexicon entries for  the commands sh, ksh,
and vsh. These introduce the shells -- that is, the programs with which you
can issue  commands to COHERENT.   Each has its  own syntax; ksh  and sh in
fact implement fully flown programming languages on their own.

vsh is  a visual shell, and  is especially useful to  beginners.  It uses a
visual  interface and  drop-down menus  to make  it easy  for you  to issue
commands without having to remember convoluted command syntax.  The Lexicon
entry for vsh describes it, and how you can customize it for yourself.

The Lexicon  entry for MS-DOS compares COHERENT  with MS-DOS, and describes
how they differ.  It also gives a table of COHERENT equivalents to commonly
used MS-DOS  commands.  If you  are used to  using MS-DOS, you  should find
this useful.

The follow commands help you to find information about your system:

apropos
     This command  searches the description  of each Lexicon  article for a
     keyword  that you  enter.  In  this  way, you  can quickly  find which
     articles discuss a given topic, such as ``printer'' or ``modem''.

help This  command displays  a brief  summary of  each Lexicon  article, by
     name.

man  This command displays Lexicon articles on your screen, by name.

The following  three articles introduce files that are  stored in your home
directory.   By modifying  these  files, you  can  customize your  COHERENT
account to suit your tastes:

.kshrc
     Script  $HOME/.kshrc configures  the Korn shell  to suit  your tastes.
     You will need to edit this file if you decide to use the Korn shell.

.lastlogin
     File $HOME/.lastlogin records the date  and time you last logged in to
     your COHERENT system.

.profile
     Script $HOME/.profile  holds commands that  are executed when  a given
     user logs in to your COHERENT system.

The following Lexicon  entries hold technical information that you probably
will find useful:

block
     This defines the size of a ``block'' on a mass-storage device.

compression
     This  introduces the  subject of  compression,  and the  programs with
     which you  can compress and de-compress files.  It  also gives a table
     that  describes  how  to  de-compress  files  based on  their  default
     suffices.

environmental variables
     This article lists  the commonly used environmental variables that are
     described  in  the  Lexicon.   These  variables  control many  of  the
     behaviors of the COHERENT system.

Lexicon
     This describes  the format  of the  printed COHERENT manual.   It also
     summarizes changes  made to on-line  Lexicon pages (the  ones that you
     view via the command man) since the manual was last printed.

man  This summarizes  the man  macros that  are used by  the text-formatter
     nroff.

ms   This  summarizes the  ms macros  that are  used by  the text-formatter
     nroff.

Finally, the following Lexicon entries define technical terms that are used
in this manual:

    caveat utilitor
    daemon
    directory
    file
    filter
    i-node
    named pipe
    pipe
    process
    root
    sticky bit
    superuser
    wildcards

For pointers on where to look  for information on how to install and modify
peripheral devices on your system, such  as the keyboard, the hard disk, or
a CD-ROM drive, see the Lexicon entry Administering COHERENT.

See Also

Administering COHERENT,
COHERENT,
Programming COHERENT

© 2012 by Stephen A. Ness