pushd / popd where have you been all my life?! How did I not know this? Thanks Zed!
May I suggest [autojump](https://github.com/joelthelion/autojump/wiki)?
The Command Line Crash Course Controlling Your Computer From The Terminal
41–50 of 91 posts
Re: The Command Line Crash Course Controlling Your Computer From The Terminal
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then why work through the examples? The "learn by rote" method he's using here is designed to help people with little or no experience catch up quickly, and remember what they've learned without the many years of daily use. If you just want to learn the odd helpful new trick, and basically know what you're doing, just ignore these parts.
That is just one example of the tone of this book, and I just don't like it, and I don't understand why it has so many supposedly adult people accepting things like: > No, seriously, type it 20 times and say it out loud. Sssh. Just do it. I supposed it was a kind of cold joke but it appears not to be. It is just very disrespectful for the reader. Grown up human beings are not to be taken by the hand like /this/ to le…
And here you are complaining, avoiding, being offended, giving your opinion, generally doing anything and everything except learning.
Seriously. Shh. Just do it. Shh meaning stop all the opinionating. Just do it meaning only do that and not all the surrounding fuss and bluster.
It's not disrespectful, it's pragmatic, you're reading his book to learn, what are you doing thinking things like "I don't want to type it 20 times, I've typed it 5 times and I know it already, this is stupid, it's boring, I'm not saying it out loud, that's embarassing, blah blah blah"? You chose to read this book to learn, do what he says. No, shh, just do it.
Re: The Command Line Crash Course Controlling Your Computer From The Terminal
#43On page 3, about "whoami" > type this command 20 times and say it out loud I have many years of daily command line use behind me and never needed to use this command. I don't like being taken for a child.
It's handy in a multi-user environment when you're sudo/su -ing to various users. I'll use it reasonably frequently to test that sudo works as anticipated. "sudo whoami" should return "root".
Yup. "id" is pretty good for that too, and is shorter to type. Give it a whirl.
Re: The Command Line Crash Course Controlling Your Computer From The Terminal
#44Am I just a cranky old geek or does anyone else find Zed teaching CLI skills mildly amusing? Or is there truly a large population mentally bound by the graphical interface?
Know the basic commands of getting things done isn't just for the experienced admins/developers like myself who have been using keyboards and terminals since the early DOS and VMS days. Ordinary users were able to create documents, check mail and write simple Excel macros, etc. Coworkers shared tips, people had books and kept notes. None of this has ever been rocket science.
Re: The Command Line Crash Course Controlling Your Computer From The Terminal
#45Was talking about going Linux soon, and this'll help me work from Terminal exclusively. Thanks!
I use a macbook as my main workstation, but all my development happens in linux VMs. It only takes a few minutes to install a headless ubuntu in VMWare, so I create a new one for every project I start. This has several advantages: - No configurations/installs from previous projects screwing things up (I know you can use tools like RVM and virtual-env, but in my experience starting from scratch is easier). - Snapshots…
Hey - I like doing this but find the power consumption of my laptop goes through the roof, and it gets uncomfortably warm. Does anyone have any tricks for beating this? I've just upgraded to latest vmware but haven't deliberately tested this yet.
Re: The Command Line Crash Course Controlling Your Computer From The Terminal
#46Zed's productivity is truly inspiring
Re: The Command Line Crash Course Controlling Your Computer From The Terminal
#47On page 3, about "whoami" > type this command 20 times and say it out loud I have many years of daily command line use behind me and never needed to use this command. I don't like being taken for a child.
I agree. I don't mind tongue-in-cheek rudeness or expletives in how-tos in documentions, but this thing just struck me as unpleasant and hostile. I'm not sure the format is well suited to the goal, either, and some of the didactic methods seem bizarre.
I'm sure better tutorials have been available for years. E.g. http://linuxcommand.org/learning_the_shell.php
Re: The Command Line Crash Course Controlling Your Computer From The Terminal
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
Grown adults are taught in a manner similar this everyday in basic training for the army. They teach far more serious topics, and it's effective. Also, smart people learn to skim and skip when needed. Writing like thus serves both cause the smarter ones skip.
You can't seriously compare teaching command line kungfu to some wannabee geeks in their spare time with the hardcore brainwashing given to infantry troops so they acquire enough Pavlovian reflex to stand and run below a shower of bombs and bullets.
There are jobs like EMT or piloting aircraft where rote knowledge and practiced skills are necessary to save lives. The methods are effective in many tasks and careers. Touch typing is a good example. How long did it take you to learn to type your odourous knee-jerk reaction?
Re: The Command Line Crash Course Controlling Your Computer From The Terminal
#49On page 3, about "whoami" > type this command 20 times and say it out loud I have many years of daily command line use behind me and never needed to use this command. I don't like being taken for a child.
I don't like being taken for a child. That's a problem with you which you should fix, instead of getting all defensive and whiny.
I tried to express a view differing from the global appraisal in the comments. If it sounds defensive and whiny, maybe it is a problem with the way I expressed it, but it was not meant to be.
I don't like "for the dummies" books either, I think this relatively new way to write books teaching something is no good for anyone. Showing a supposedly humorous disrespect for the reader seems to be acceptable in some cultures. It is not in mine. A very strong bullshitting of the reader is ok in some literary works, as it is part of the facture of the book (I am thinking LF Celine), but it is not ok in utilitarian literature.
But, you'd tell me, it is a first-world problem, I can live with this new trend (it will be replaced soon enough), as long as I am allowed to express out-fashioned point of views in places like HN.
Re: The Command Line Crash Course Controlling Your Computer From The Terminal
#50I just wrote to Zed: I haven't read past section 0 yet, but I do have a suggestion for people who want to learn how to memorize things faster: use SuperMemo or a modern equivalent, like http://ankisrs.net/ . Such programs use spaced repetition techniques to improve memory speed. I used Anki for improving my French and recommend it. If you'd like to learn more, see http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-05/ff…
Anki and Mnemosyne (http://www.mnemosyne-proj.org/) are both available from the Ubuntu repos.