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Certificate Program in UNIX/Linux Operating Systems

Note: This program is no longer accepting applications as of Fall 2025.

Curriculum Outline

Required Courses (6 / 18cr)

Note: Some of these courses are also offered on campus. See our current course listings on this site.

Course Descriptions

INFO.2670 C Programming (3cr)

Introduces students to the techniques of programming in C. The language syntax, semantics, its applications, and the portable library are covered. This course is an introductory course in programming. It does not assume previous programming experience.

Notes:

Students may not receive credit for both the INFO.2110/INFO.2120 sequence and INFO.2670
This course qualifies for free MSDNA software!

INFO.2680 C++ Programming (3cr)

This course will cover the C++ language and show the student how to use the language. We will cover class construction, operator overloading, virtual functions, templates, and introduce the student to the IO streams. Inheritance and its use in creating extendible libraries will be presented. Object-oriented concepts will be presented in the context of the C++ language and its support for object-oriented programming.

Notes:


This course qualifies for free MSDNA software!

Requirements:

P: INFO.2670 or INFO.2120; requires C++ compiler software

INFO.3110 Introduction to the Linux/Unix Operating System (3cr)

Addresses manipulating and maintaining files within the UNIX file system; creating and editing text files using the vi and ed editors; using pipes, redirection, and filters; using advanced text processing utilities; using electronic mail; writing and debugging shell scripts; submitting and executing processes.

INFO.3120 Shell Scripting (3cr)

Teaches the students the techniques of programming in the high-level programming language of the Bourne, Korn, and BASH Shells. The course covers the building blocks necessary to create portable shell scripts that can be used as new utilities for computers running either UNIX, Linux, or the Cygwin environment on Windows.

Requirements:

INFO.3110, and INFO.2670 or INFO.2120

INFO.3210 Linux/Unix System Administration (3cr)

The course will start by exploring the booting and setting up stand-alone system. Students will learn how to set up and manage user accounts, how to manage other resources such as disk space, CPU usage and user access to shared resources with maximization of security in mind. Since virtually all systems are networked today we will proceed to learn about e-mail (POP and SMTP protocols), Web servers and networking services. The course will present the following Internet services: DNS, FTP, telnet, HTTP (Apache Web Server), SSH. The intranet topics will be discussed including Network File System (NFS), Network Information Services (NIS) and interoperability with Windows system via Samba. At the conclusion of the course students will explore topics in networking: network configuration, security and interoperability.

Requirements:

Shell Scripting experience; required software with tex

INFO.3600 Intro. to Data Structures with C (3cr)

This course introduces students to the fundamental concepts of data structures such as stacks, queues, linear and linked lists, trees, graphs, hashing, etc., using the C programming language. Algorithms for manipulating these structures, such as sorting and searching techniques, will also be covered.

Requirements:

INFO 2670 C Programming or INFO 2120 Intro to Programming with C- part II.

Undergraduate Certificate Requirements

Students enrolled in UMass Lowell certificate programs must complete all courses and maintain a grade point average of 2.000 or better to earn the certificate. All certificate courses must be completed within a five-year period.

Certificate Completion

Students who successfully complete the certificate program should submit a Certificate Petition Form to have their certificate mailed to them.