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Miguel de Icaza: Learning Unix

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Re: Miguel de Icaza: Learning Unix

#21

Post by alexkay »

gecko wrote: post #12
foob wrote: post #8

I would like to add the Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide ( http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/ ) as an incredible resource. It's obviously geared towards scripting but most of what it teaches is extremely useful for working in an interactive shell as well. I had been using linux and bash for years before I read it and I still picked up quite a bit when I finally got around to working through it.

The only thing I don't quite grok is that, as the complexity of a given bash script increases, it moves ever-closer to looking exactly like the well-written-by-90s-standards Perl I remember from when I was just learning Unix. Given that Perl's about as ubiquitous as bash (and arguably more so, since I literally don't know any mainstream *nix that ships without Perl in the core, and I know several that ship without ba…

> since I literally don't know any mainstream -nix that ships without Perl in the core, and I know several that ship without bash

FreeBSD doesn't have Perl in the base system (but of course has it in the ports). Same with Bash though, but the Bourne shell is of course in the base.

Re: Miguel de Icaza: Learning Unix

#22

Post by okal »

andrewhare wrote: post #6
dmboyd wrote: post #3

Mavis beacon teaches typing.. Seriously?

He sounded pretty serious to me. Do you have a better suggestion? The Mavis Beacon software does a perfectly fine job at teaching touch-typing.

GNU gtypist. Got me from "hunt and peck" to touch typing with a decent wpm count within 2 weeks. Considering I used fewer than half of the tutorials, I think that's pretty awesome. It's an old GNU utility so it should be in any repos. Even had it on Cygwin.

Re: Miguel de Icaza: Learning Unix

#23

Post by okal »

ginkgo wrote: post #16
andrewhare wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He sounded pretty serious to me. Do you have a better suggestion? The Mavis Beacon software does a perfectly fine job at teaching touch-typing.

When I forced myself to learn touch-typing with a qwerty keyboard i used gtypist. I found it to be sufficient for its purpose. The only gripe i had with it was that it required typing two spaces after a period. I found this just plain weird, so I fixed it in the tutorial files. I guess using a blank keyboard also helped quite a bit..

Sorry, hadn't seen your comment. Gtypist did a lot for my muscle memory, yet I barely scraped the surface. It's probably time I went through the remaining tutorials.

Re: Miguel de Icaza: Learning Unix

#24

Post by sherr »

andrewhare wrote: post #6
dmboyd wrote: post #3

Mavis beacon teaches typing.. Seriously?

He sounded pretty serious to me. Do you have a better suggestion? The Mavis Beacon software does a perfectly fine job at teaching touch-typing.

Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor is pretty good - Linux and OSX.

http://klavaro.sourceforge.net/en/

Re: Miguel de Icaza: Learning Unix

#26

Post by bitops »

juiceandjuice wrote: post #19

Are most people not touch typers? I've noticed my boss isn't really a touch typer, despite programming since before I was born, but I always assumed the majority of CS people were.

You'd be surprised how many senior-level people are hunt and peck typers. I've met several software engineers with 10+ years of experience who don't type with all 10 fingers (assuming they have that many).

Re: Miguel de Icaza: Learning Unix

#27

Post by bitops »

LeafStorm wrote: post #2

I need to remember this one: "And you will offer to buy me a beer, which I will refuse because I rather have you buy me a freshly squeezed orange juice."

That could be considered the "Beer Ware" license for San Francisco in the 21st century. And it should be certified organic/vegan/etc.

Re: Miguel de Icaza: Learning Unix

#28

Post by sb »

Hm, instead of MC I prefer dired+ within Emacs, I have never used anything more powerful than this (particularly with TRAMP and the regex features.) So, if you are already learning Emacs, I think it pays off to at least take a look at dired(+).

(Minor remark: for smaller tasks [and instead of launching a terminal window] I prefer to use the DirOpus clone "worker" on UNIX.)

Re: Miguel de Icaza: Learning Unix

#29

Post by angus77 »

okal wrote: post #22
andrewhare wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He sounded pretty serious to me. Do you have a better suggestion? The Mavis Beacon software does a perfectly fine job at teaching touch-typing.

GNU gtypist. Got me from "hunt and peck" to touch typing with a decent wpm count within 2 weeks. Considering I used fewer than half of the tutorials, I think that's pretty awesome. It's an old GNU utility so it should be in any repos. Even had it on Cygwin.

That's exactly how I learned---I'd say it took me two weeks, to, to become comfortable with typing. I've been recommending learning to touch type that way for a few years now. Not a soul has taken me up on it yet.
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