Computers execute software to get stuff done. In modern computing, this software is split into two categories: operating system kernels (about which we will learn much later) and processes, which we will discuss here. When Linux starts up, it launches an init (short for initializer) process that, in turn, launches a bunch of other processes which launch more processes until, eventually, you are looking at your command line shell, which is also a process! The shell, of course, launches processes in response to the commands you enter.
In this module, we will learn to view and interact with processes in a number of exciting ways!