Its zero-length files are neither binary nor text, 
	yet you can examine and display them

Under Linux, everything is managed as a file; 
	even devices are accessed as files (in the /dev directory). 
	Although you might think that “normal” files are either text or binary (or possibly device or pipe files), 
	the /proc directory contains a stranger type: 
		virtual files. 
		These files are listed, but don’t actually exist on disk; 

Although almost all the files are read-only, 
	a few writable ones (notably in /proc/sys) 
		allow you to change kernel parameters. 
			(Of course, you must be careful if you do this.)
			

The numbered directories correspond to each running process;
	a special self symlink points to the current process. 

Some virtual files provide hardware information, such as 
	/proc/cpuinfo, 
	/proc/meminfo, 
	/proc/interrupts. 
Others give file-related info, such as 
	/proc/filesystems 
	/proc/partitions. 
The files under /proc/sys are related to kernel configuration parameters

/proc/cmdline: 
	Shows the parameters that were passed to the kernel at boot time.
/proc/dma: 
	Shows the Direct Memory Access channels in use.

the numerical named directories 
	represent all running processes. 
When a process ends, 
	its /proc directory disappears automatically

cmdline: 
	Contains the command that started the process, with all its parameters.
cwd: 
	A symlink to the current working directory (CWD) for the process; 
	exe links to the process executable, 
	and root links to its root directory.
environ: 
	Shows all environment variables for the process.
fd:
	Contains all file descriptors for a process, 
		showing which files or devices it is using.
maps, statm, and mem: 
	Deal with the memory in use by the process.
stat and status: 
	Provide information about the status of the process, 
	but the latter is far clearer than the former.

if you want to program a better-looking top, 
	all the needed information is right at your fingertips.