The Linux Command Line: A Complete Introduction Author: William E. Shotts Jr. | Language: English | ISBN:
B006X2QEQS | Format: PDF
The Linux Command Line: A Complete Introduction Description
You've experienced the shiny, point-and-click surface of your Linux computer—now dive below and explore its depths with the power of the command line.
The Linux Command Line takes you from your very first terminal keystrokes to writing full programs in Bash, the most popular Linux shell. Along the way you'll learn the timeless skills handed down by generations of gray-bearded, mouse-shunning gurus: file navigation, environment configuration, command chaining, pattern matching with regular expressions, and more.
In addition to that practical knowledge, author William Shotts reveals the philosophy behind these tools and the rich heritage that your desktop Linux machine has inherited from Unix supercomputers of yore.
As you make your way through the book's short, easily-digestible chapters, you'll learn how to:
- Create and delete files, directories, and symlinks
- Administer your system, including networking, package installation, and process management
- Use standard input and output, redirection, and pipelines
- Edit files with Vi, the world's most popular text editor
- Write shell scripts to automate common or boring tasks
- Slice and dice text files with cut, paste, grep, patch, and sed
Once you overcome your initial "shell shock," you'll find that the command line is a natural and expressive way to communicate with your computer. Just don't be surprised if your mouse starts to gather dust.
- File Size: 1080 KB
- Print Length: 480 pages
- Publisher: No Starch Press; 1 edition (January 13, 2012)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B006X2QEQS
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,408 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #6
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Unix - #9
in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Linux > Programming - #11
in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Linux > Networking & System Administration
- #6
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Unix - #9
in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Linux > Programming - #11
in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Linux > Networking & System Administration
What if you had a book that took you from the very beginning of the Linux command line options, and it took you through progressively interesting and relevant topics so that you really could develop a mastery of the shell? Oh, and what if it were written in a fun style that was less wonkish and easier to embrace and follow along with? Less tech, mode dude. William E. Shotts, Jr.'s "The Linux Command Line" manages to do that.
Let's face it, learning the entirely of the Linux command line can take years. It's unlikely most will walk through the book page by page and work through each example, but with this book, it feel like you could do exactly that and not get bored.
The first part of the book walks the user through the many commands that are relevant to all systems and all shells; the navigation options through directories, showing files, getting your head around terminals, finding and opening files, moving files and directories around, links (both literal and symbolic), learning about commands and how to learn more about them. All of this, as well as redirection, using pipelines, creating filters, expansions, and so on. A wonderful metaphor and explanation made in this section is that Windows is like a GameBoy, and Linux is like the world's biggest Erector Set. While Windows is nice and shiny and makes for pretty applications, it's difficult (relatively speaking) to roll your own applications without a fair bit of knowledge and packaged tools. Linux, on the other hand, right off the bat gives you all the tools you need to build just about anything in just about any conceivable way you might want to build it.
Part 2 covers configuration of the shell and the environment variables that it keeps track of.
I will first state that I am a partially blind Linux user. I took some Linux classes in 2006, and I completely migrated to Linux in 2007 due to several reasons which I will not cover here. When I refer to myself as "partially" blind, I say that with the intent that what minimal amount of vision I have left may not lost much longer. Throughout the majority of my 'Linux life", I heavily relied on screen magnification and graphical tools to get things done; as of recently, however, my good eye has not held up so well as it used to. With the possibility of the loss of my remaining vision eminent, I decided that I could better be served by performing many operations under Linux from the command line. I can still use a graphical environment through the use of the Orca screen reader, and there are a number fo screen readers available strictly for the command line side of Linux.
For awhile now I tried to learn the command line through Google searches and different online tutorials, as well as some arcane manpages for command line utilities. I felt kind of overwhelmed because I could not find all of the information I needed in a format for learning. Enter this book!
As mentioned by other reviewers, this book is not necessarily meant to be a reference it is written in such a way that it is like you have a personal Linux trainer. Everything is explained so that the reader can understand it, and the author seems to be very meticulous when it comes to details (by no means a complaint). I have learned more from this one book than I have from the textbooks used by the professor of the Linux class at the college which I attended back in 2006. That is not to say I learned nothing in those classes, as I learned a ton...just not enough to (for the most part) live in the command line.
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