Book excerpt: The purpose of this book is to help the novice become comfortable using any of the Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX computers, from the MicroVAX to the powerful VAX 8000 system. The first nine chapters cover systems which run on Version 4 of DEC's VAX/VMS operating system, while the last two introduce the user to the UNIX operating system. The book is meant to be used as a tutorial. A reader, even one with no experience, should be able to sit down at a VAX terminal and carry out the exercises in each chapter. Self-test exercises at the end of each chapter provide reinforcement, and readers are encouraged to experiment with each system, and the utilize the relevant HELP files.