Defining function keys

[Rouben Rostamian]

I recently moved from a VMS system to UNIX (System V, sort of). 
Although I am generally happy with my new environment, one thing
that I really miss is the capability in VMS of defining terminal's
function keys.  Is there a way to define function keys to execute
certain commands in UNIX?  For example, can one press f17 (I have
a vt220) to execute "/bin/ps -w -u smith"?  

-- 
Rouben Rostamian
Department of Mathematics                      e-mail:
University of Maryland Baltimore Counnty       Rostamian at umbc2.bitnet
Baltimore, MD 21228                            rostamia at umbc3.umbc.edu