
A survival guide for Unix beginners - fogus
http://matt.might.net/articles/basic-unix/
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zeteo
The guide doesn't quite achieve what it sets out to, i.e. showing a GUI user
some concrete examples where the command line gives you more power. Instead
the reader is presented with lists of fancy ways to access a shell (you
realistically expect a Unix beginner to rent a linode.com server?!) and with
semi-comprehensive listings of the root file system (as if e.g. "/opt,
package-manager installed files" is some place where a beginner might
profitably venture).

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jsmcgd
Agreed. I don't think the language is right for newbies:

"What is computing with Unix?

Unix is a family of operating systems and environments that exploits the power
of linguistic abstraction and composition to orchestrate tasks."

That isn't a question a newbie would ask or an answer they'd understand.
Instead, I think the following would have been (less accurate but) much more
helpful:

"What is Unix?

Unix is just an operating system, like Microsoft Windows or Mac OS."

Know your audience!

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scott_s
His audience are CS students: _As a professor, I worry that the upcoming
generation of programmers is missing out on the Unix experience, and with it,
the power it grants._

Your answer is too simple for them.

~~~
bobds
I think you overestimate CS students.

~~~
burgerbrain
I don't think so either, but I _do_ think that leaving it just at "Unix is an
operating system" is likely to generate a good more confusion along the lines
of _"wait, I just have linux, where can I get unix?"_ , _"what do you mean
linux is unix-like?"_ , and of course _"I thought I could use OSX for this"_.

It should be strongly mentioned that "unix" best describes a class of
operating systems including "proper" unix systems like OSX and the "unix-like"
systems like linux.

It's also important to divorce the students from that layman perspective of
"operating systems are all that graphical shit I see on my screen". In fact, I
think that might be the most important part.

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bprater
This guide would probably hurt someone more than help them. It might work as a
cursory overview, but even then -- my head would spin if this was my first
guide to *nix.

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wazoox
It takes for granted that people understand, for instance, what's a filesystem
and how it is basically organized. I don't think it'd be very useful for a
beginner.

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fs111
why is such a bad tutorial on the frontpage?

