Coding experience in a UNIX environment

[wantedSpidy]

Not sure where to put this, but since I saw the thread about internships here, I'll post here since its relevant.

So I was filling out some online summer intern applications (mainly for software development, and some for ECE), and most of them asked if have any experience with coding in a UNIX environment.

I use KDE environment on the Linux SUSE on my notebook, and I code in Eclipse mainly, so does that count as working in a UNIX environment? I know most of the basic UNIX commands and am comfortable with command line in general.

So what should I put down? Are they looking for something specific when they say programming in a UNIX environment, like kernel coding or something?

Any input would be helpful.

 

[silverpig]

They asked if you had any experience. You do. 🙂

It's a summer intern position. They can't expect you to have written kernel code and put you to work doing that.

 

[imported_shader]

this thread most likely does not belong here (for future reference this would probably be more appropriate in off topic or programming)

from experience when an employer puts "programming in a UNIX environment" they want someone who is familiar enough with a UNIX (or unix like) environment and also can program (usually in c). like silverpig said, since it is an internship they can't expect you to be a kernel developer, but their statement is very vague. if they are looking for anything it could mean being used to using system calls.

good luck

 

[icarus4586]

Yep. I'd say working in a Linux environment and being able to get around in a command-line environment would definitely count. I know I'd count it, if I were applying. 🙂

 

[pm]

All that I look for with regards to Unix skills when I interview interns is a general grasp of the basic commands, and for bonus, some of the slightly more advanced concepts (like piping a command) and chaining multiple commands together via pipes to solve a problem that, at first glance might seem to require a script or program to accomplish. Since development at my company is largely done under Unix all that I personally look for is that the candidate has used it and is comfortable with it. Most of the questions that I ask are "soft pitches" - like "what's the command to get a directory listing?". If a candidate has ready answers for the easy stuff, we move on to the harder ("How would you find the total number of instances of a particular string in a given file?", etc.) But all that I look for really is the easy stuff - the harder stuff is bonus. I don't tend to ask specific Linux questions - we use several types of Unix - nor questions about X (or KDE or Gnome) since people have their preferences.

 

[Missing Ghost]

I would also think it means knowledge of ksh or bash used in scripts.

 

[esun]

Well, using UNIX IMO means knowing either Vim or Emacs, understanding sed, awk, grep, cat, less, Perl/shell scripting, find, and stuff like that. Eclipse wouldn't cut it. You should, for example, know how to edit environment variables (e.g. adding a directory to your PATH), know basics like what uname is. Just general experience with the UNIX CLI will give you all the knowledge you need, but Eclipse won't. Even if you don't know this stuff by heart, it shouldn't be scary or foreign to look up the syntax for these commands. You should know what they do by heart (otherwise you'll be woefully inefficient in UNIX).

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: wantedSpidy
Not sure where to put this, but since I saw the thread about internships here, I'll post here since its relevant.

So I was filling out some online summer intern applications (mainly for software development, and some for ECE), and most of them asked if have any experience with coding in a UNIX environment.

I use KDE environment on the Linux SUSE on my notebook, and I code in Eclipse mainly, so does that count as working in a UNIX environment? I know most of the basic UNIX commands and am comfortable with command line in general.

So what should I put down? Are they looking for something specific when they say programming in a UNIX environment, like kernel coding or something?

Any input would be helpful.

I would also believe this means being able to use the text editor of choice...
VI, X-edit... whatever
and the gcc compiler.

 

[wantedSpidy]

Well in general whenever I have a problem, I search for solutions online.

Honestly, I wasn't planning on listing any UNIX experience because I'm no super UNIX user.
But I've been using HSPICE and other ECE software in a UNIX environment, and didn't want
them to feel that I wasn't comfortable using those in a UNIX environment......

Well I think I'll be explicit about the depth of UNIX knowledge.....

And thanks for all the input 🙂