
The Command Line Crash Course (Zed Shaw) - drewda
http://learncodethehardway.org/cli/book/
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liuhenry
This was posted yesterday: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3358544> along
with existing comment thread.

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zedshaw
Yes, I thought HN prevented this. Anyway, see the above discussion and keep in
mind this is a first rough draft.

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itgoon
I missed the previous link, so I'm glad it came up.

I do a lot of powershell, Zed. Would you be interested in feedback? For
example, while "type" still works, "get-content" is the powershell equivalent.

Nice work, one way or the other. Please keep it up.

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itgoon
Heh. I just checked. "Type" is an alias for "get-content".

I suspect bringing all that up would just confuse the issue, and detract from
your goal.

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jnbiche
Since I didn't get a chance to comment on yesterday's post on "The Hard Way"
command line course, I want to mention today that Zed Shaw is also working on
a very nice C course for experienced programmers. I've been looking
unsuccessfully for an online C course like this one, that doesn't do things
like explain what functions, primitives, etc. are. Starts out a little slow
with compiling and setting up your development environment, but then reveals a
very well-written introductory course on C programming for experienced
programmers. As an experienced Python/Javascript/PHP programmer with an
interest in C, I've been looking for an online course like this for a long
time.

Zed: can we somehow compensate you for your works-in-progress? I've gotten a
lot out of your C course. I can't wait until it's available in epub format.

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zedshaw
Just tell me when you find errors so I can fix them, and then if you
appreciate it buy a PDF/ePub when it becomes available. Actually selling
something is way easier to explain to the tax man than a "donation".

~~~
jnbiche
Will do. And I just purchased your udemy C course. And WOW! I'm looking ahead
in the pdf and you're going to cover a lot. Perhaps the same is reflected in
the HTML version -- I 've not yet looked ahead.

Folks, if you're a Python, Ruby, Javascript, etc. programmer and you're
interested in learning C, this is the book for you.

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LeafStorm
While I'm glad that you aren't dismissing Windows out of hand like some
people, interleaving the Windows instructions with the POSIX instructions
could get a bit confusing. It may be better to maintain separate builds of the
book for POSIX and Windows.

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mechanical_fish
I thought this looked like an interesting, possibly-unique feature, not a bug.

Including Windows up-front ensures that whoever picks up the book can make use
of it immediately, no matter which computer they happen to be sitting in front
of.

Also, as one who knows the Unix command line pretty well but knows next-to-
nothing about Windows, it's good to get exposed to a similar-yet-different
style of command line.

And if I ever need to use Windows again I plan to try this book first: By
covering both in parallel, the book might turn out to be a pretty good guide
to learning one in terms of the other.

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dredmorbius
It's easy enough to get a POSIX/Linux toolkit via Cygwin.

Though this does assume the user is allowed/enabled to install software.

Barring that, bootable CD / USB distros are also highly tenable. The default
Ubuntu installation disk includes this, though there are many other options.

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LeafStorm
...Except Zed's whole point with this is that you _don't_ have to use the
fancy Cygwin/POSIXy stuff or a Linux Live CD or whatever to do programming and
the command line. POSIX environments are better for programming, but you don't
_need_ them, and a lot of the people who would benefit most from learning
programming don't have Linux experience and wouldn't do it if they had to do
something fancy to get a UNIX-y environment.

~~~
dredmorbius
For me it's more a matter of cognitive simplicity.

I _can_ use a POSIX environment anywhere. It's one less hurdle if that's the
tool I'm using.

I've learned (and forgotten) numerous proprietary system languages. I prefer
sticking with stuff that will be around. POSIX/Unix/Linux have demonstrated
staying power.

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benatkin
It's been interesting to read your tweets about Windows. It's encouraging to
see a fast learner get up to speed despite plenty of misgivings about the
subject matter.

I think it will be less confusing to some if you mention Windows Vista here:

> If you don't have Windows 7, you should _seriously_ consider upgrading. If
> you still insist on not upgrading then you can try installing it from the
> download center. You are on you're own though since I don't have Windows XP,
> but hopefully the PowerShell experience is the same.

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wyclif
"Your" not "you're." I guess I'll submit some corrections.

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DanBC
I'm not enjoying this much. I think the tone is a bit harsh. Compare to Learn
Python THW:

(<http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/intro.html>)

See, especially, "do not copy paste" which is firm but clearly explains why
you don't copy paste.

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wyclif
Don't forget, this is a first draft. Since the best predictor of future
behaviour is past behaviour, expect the rough edges to be sanded down over
time.

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ExpiredLink
> Just like above, here's the same list but using the Windows versions:

> TODO: Need the windows version.

Is there an easy way to contribute to this book? Ideally people could submit
patches to be merged by Zed at his own discretion.

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non123
I was aware that pushd and popd existed but never used it. I see how I can
gain a lot of productivity from it, so I'll probably be using it from now on.

