HackerTube.dev

UNIX: Making Computers Easier To Use -- AT&T Archives film from 1982, Bell Laboratories

AT&T Tech Channel · 499.4K views · 2014-01-27 · 23:39

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

A 1982 AT&T Bell Labs film for students about the Unix system and how it can be used practically. It includes Lorinda Cherry building a talking calculator by piping together Unix commands, and a spell checker made from Unix utilities.

On Hacker News

HN commenters recommend it as a demonstration of the Unix philosophy, with small tools composed through pipes.

Recommended by 6 HN people across 5 months · HN mentions 2015–2024

Topics

History of computingOperating systems & kernels
Search by tags
unixbell labspipeslorinda cherrykernighan

What people said

danso · 2015-12 · Strong recommendation

That was a great watch...and if you keep on watching for a few more minutes, you can watch Lorinda L. Cherry rewrite his implementation using Unix pipes and then creating a talking calculator. The screencasting technology wasn't quite there yet ;), but both are really excellent demonstrations and eludications of the Unix philosophy and mindset that is pretty much unchanged and invaluable ~34 years later [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
Ambroos · 2022-02 · Recommendation

I love what she does here: [VIDEO] , also demonstrating pipes and scripts. The input she chooses makes the whole segment pretty damn funny.

Read the original HN comment ↗
ducktective · 2021-09 · Recommendation

Look what I've found! Lorinda Cherry herself explaining how to write a "talking calculator" (in 1982!) using dc and Unix pipelines: [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by AT&T Tech Channel, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources