POSIX
POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) is a family of standards specified by the IEEE Computer Society for maintaining compatibility between operating systems. It defines a set of APIs, command-line shells, and utility interfaces for software compatibility, primarily for Unix-like systems. The standards ensure that applications written for POSIX-compliant systems can be easily ported across different platforms.
Developers should learn POSIX when working on cross-platform software, especially for Unix/Linux environments, as it provides a consistent programming interface that reduces porting efforts. It is essential for system programming, shell scripting, and developing applications that need to run on multiple Unix-like operating systems, such as Linux, macOS, and BSD variants. Understanding POSIX helps in writing portable code and utilizing standard system calls and utilities.