
Ask HN: Advice for teaching my little sister unix? - Puer
Hi HN,<p>My little sister recently started a programming class in her public school using Java. I gave her my old Mac laptop so that she could write up her homework assignments in Sublime Text and compile and run them with the terminal. She&#x27;s been picking things up very quickly and when she has questions I try and both give her an answer but also show her how I reached the answer so that she becomes more independent.<p>I&#x27;m finding some things, like using a terminal for file system navigation, more difficult to explain than others. I grew up using an old windowless Linux system so to me using a terminal is kind of second nature. I realized in answering her questions though that I didn&#x27;t even know what basic commands like &quot;ls&quot; stand for.<p>I&#x27;m hoping that by giving her my old laptop she&#x27;s it will enable her to just try things and learn like I did when I was young, but I also want her to have the opportunity to learn these things more thoroughly and formally than I did if that&#x27;s what she prefers. Googling answers gives mixed results for someone with her beginner background. Are there good books&#x2F;websites you guys would recommend that she could read or use to learn how Unix systems work?
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rubenhak
How old is your little sister?

My first guess would be that she is too young for Java. Why don't you start
with a more modern languages like NodeJS or Python? Those languages are easy
to start and are not that overwhelming like the languages that carry too much
legacy.

For the editor I'd recommend Visual Studio Code. Its open sourced and comes
with tons of addons for the languages of your choice. What Microsoft can do
really well - is to build great IDEs.

There are tons of books online, check in amazon for best sellers. Another
options is video courses. They again are more easy to start with. There is
udemy, skillshare, coursera. This format is more interactive. With video
lessons chances are much higher she will not get bored and would continue with
this further.

my 2 cents.

