[TriLUG] Promotions for Installfests

[Paul D. Boyle]

al johnson wrote:

> Uh, I don't think I ever said I didn't want to master the "command line". Au
> contraire, I believe I said that since I have used batch files (which I
> loved) in the past, I did want to master it. It's a matter of getting the
> right approach to learning the command line.

If you want to be a command commando, pick up a copy of "Unix Power Tools"
published by O'Reilly.  It consists of a series of short articles on
all the different command line tools Unix has to offer.   Some of the
information seems a little dated, but by and large it is an excellent
cookbook and introduction to using the command line.

>  The way we learned batch files
> (which if you're too young to know what I'm talking about consisted of
> small text files containing DOS and small DOS programs to do useful
> things

DOS batch files are the poor equivalent to Unix shell scripts, without the
logic or flow control syntax.

> --you could create them so sophisticated that you could just walk up
> to a computer push one key and have your MSDOS machine do a hundred things
> without any other action on your part). We had books (primarily from QUE)
> which slowly and gently taught you how to write these things, though it took
> time before you could write one which could do the things you wanted to do.

> Useful ones were collected, books were written that had the scripts, and by
> studying them you were able OVER TIME to do some amazing things.

This is true for shell scripts.  For example, just today I wrote a tclsh
script which uses 'autoexpect' prepared scripts to run a series of crystal
structure refinement programs which normally have to be run interactively.
(These are relatively complicated, but repetitive calculations --
autoexpect rules!) (By the way, I don't particularly like tclsh, but it
is easy to do floating point comparisions, which are more difficult to
do with bash or tcsh -- I just use the right tool for the job).

> almost every day (sort ASCII strings alphabetically). Word Perfect used to
> have it, but WORD to my knowledge never has. But a simple little DOS program
> will do this task in a heartbeat, although it's limited in the size lists it
> can sort--the program was called "sort" and it had lots of switches. Then
> people got tired of not being to sort very large lists so "sort-f" was
> created.
>      So, Yes, I do want to master the "command line", but all the tutorials
> on it usually leave me in the dust after the first chapter. What's needed is
> a simple "command line cookbook"

"Unix Power Tools" is for you.

> etc., etc. etc. All I'm saying is you gotta crawl before you can walk, much
> less run. And you gotta share your recipes too!! And these recipes should be
> collected, published and shared.

I think necessity is the mother of invention.  Find some task you have
to do and find a way to use command line tools to do it.  It is not an
exaggeration to say that you can do almost anything with the command
line utilities which are standard fare on Linux.

After you become proficent on the command line, GUI tools will seem
slow and cumbersome in comparision.

Good Luck,

Paul

-- 
Paul D. Boyle			    |	boyle at laue.chem.ncsu.edu
Director, X-ray Structural Facility |	phone: (919) 515-7362
Department of Chemistry - Box 8204  |	FAX:   (919) 515-5079
North Carolina State University     | 
Raleigh, NC, 27695-8204
http://laue.chem.ncsu.edu/web/xray.welcome.html