00smyork@bsu-ucs.uucp (SOME PEOPLE SNIFF GLUE OTHERS SNIFF TAPE) (11/08/90)
I just got into unix and need someone to tell me how to use it if anyone would take the time I'd be grateful. Thanx Steve (Psycho) York freshman Ball State University, Muncie, In
stadt@cs.utwente.nl (Richard van de Stadt) (11/09/90)
RTFM - Read The Fucking Manuals -- R.R. van de Stadt (Richard) Email: stadt@cs.utwente.nl
tony@nexus.yorku.ca (Tony Wallis) (11/09/90)
Steve York, perhaps naively, asks : | I just got into unix and need someone to tell me how to use it if | anyone would take the time I'd be grateful. Richard van de Stadt, perhaps intending to be helpful, replies: | RTFM - Read The Fucking Manuals That parallels my sex education. At a tender impressionable age when a little "hand-holding" would have been of immense value, I was reduced to reading the (excuse the pun) fucking manuals in the library. As a result, I knew all the plumbing details about sex (pipes, sockets, etc.), but next to nothing about what really matters at that age. The Unix neophyte does not need RTFM. They need an introduction to the spirit/feel/philosophy/callitwhatyouwill. And the best place to get that is from someone who does Unix and is willing to give the time. ... tony@nexus.yorku.ca = Tony Wallis, York University, Toronto, Canada
gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn) (11/10/90)
In article <17304@yunexus.YorkU.CA> tony@nexus.yorku.ca (Tony Wallis) writes: >The Unix neophyte does not need RTFM. They need an introduction to >the spirit/feel/philosophy/callitwhatyouwill. And the best place to >get that is from someone who does Unix and is willing to give the time. The UNIX Reference Manual is not really intended as a tutorial anyway. However, there should be tutorials in your documentation set. If not, most bookstores these days seem to have dozens of UNIX tutorial books. One-on-one instruction is most unusual, probably because it's expensive.
dce@smsc.sony.com (David Elliott) (11/11/90)
In article <17304@yunexus.YorkU.CA> tony@nexus.yorku.ca (Tony Wallis) writes: >The Unix neophyte does not need RTFM. They need an introduction to >the spirit/feel/philosophy/callitwhatyouwill. And the best place to >get that is from someone who does Unix and is willing to give the time. I think it depends on the person. If they just want to use Unix as a computing environment, then hands-on lessons and introductory books are a reasonable way to go. On the other hand, the they really want to dig in and become a competent Unix user/programmer or a systems developer, there's no substitute for sitting down and reading the manuals from cover to cover. No, this won't make one an expert immediately, but if the person has a reasonable memory, they'll have been exposed to enough of the system that they'll know where to look. Another aspect of this is that the user learns how the manuals are organized, and can learn to look for themselves instead of having to go to the experts for every little detail.
brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) (11/11/90)
In article <1990Nov10.162446.20443@smsc.sony.com> dce@smsc.sony.com (David Elliott) writes: > On the other hand, the they really want > to dig in and become a competent Unix user/programmer or a systems > developer, there's no substitute for sitting down and reading the > manuals from cover to cover. I disagree. Reading the man pages is like reading a book on how a bike works. You'll never learn to ride a bike if you don't get out there and start practicing! A good way to become a UNIX expert is to rewrite every program on the system. Or at least a good chunk. ---Dan
dce@smsc.sony.com (David Elliott) (11/11/90)
In article <12128:Nov1017:48:5690@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) writes: >In article <1990Nov10.162446.20443@smsc.sony.com> dce@smsc.sony.com (David Elliott) writes: >> On the other hand, the they really want >> to dig in and become a competent Unix user/programmer or a systems >> developer, there's no substitute for sitting down and reading the >> manuals from cover to cover. > >I disagree. Reading the man pages is like reading a book on how a bike >works. You'll never learn to ride a bike if you don't get out there and >start practicing! You're absolutely right. I didn't mean that just reading the manual was a subsitute for programming. I meant that it was a substitute for having someone hold your hand to learn Unix. In fact, I feel that reading the manual is superior to hand-holding for the beginner because it piques one's curiosity. There's nothing like finding out that there's a command like "comm" or "rev" to make someone think. Of course, it's nice to have experts around when you are getting into the tough parts. I was lucky to have experts like Steve Glaser, Andy Crump, and Brad Needham around to get me through that middle period.
rbarrell@rdb1.UUCP (rbarrell) (11/12/90)
In article <47290@bsu-ucs.uucp>, 00smyork@bsu-ucs.uucp (SOME PEOPLE SNIFF GLUE OTHERS SNIFF TAPE) writes: > I just got into unix and need someone to tell me how to use it if anyone would > take the time I'd be grateful. Steve, As has been mentioned, the best way to learn unix is to start using it. Toward this end, I have a few suggestions of possible reading/reference materials which have been of tremendous help to me, even when I just started unix/xenix five years ago. The first is a set of reference cards from Micro Logic (PO Box 174, Hackensack, NJ 07602): one for "Unix Shell" and the other for "C Language". The cards are very well organized and present an amazing wealth of information within an 8.5" X 11" page. Also, they are made of plastic, so they don't get worn out by the end of the first few days of use. They're only about $6 each. The next which, by the title, may sound surprising is the book _Tricks of the Unix Masters_ by Russell G. Sage, which is published by Sams. Even though the title SOUNDS complicated, and even though some of the scripts in it are not the simplest in the world, all of the material provides excellent examples from which to learn. A third reference would be _The Guru_, a new magazine ("Monthly Training Journal") by the Valar Group. While it only started last month, it seemed to provide very good information, and presents the material in levels called Apprentice, Journeyman, Master, and Wizard. If you can make it past the $96/yr subscription cost, it is very worthwhile. Finally, while I have never used any of them myself, I always hear great words of praise of the O'Reilly Associates' "Nutshell" handbooks. These cover many topics, each in a separate book. -- Robert Barrell | rbarrell@rdb1.UUCP | Phillips Consulting Group Milo's Meadow BBS | uunet!pcgbase!rdb1!rbarrell | 282 North Shore Drive login: bbs or nuucp | "... Pooh just IS." | Ormond Beach, FL 32176 (904) 441-5028 | -- The Tao of Pooh | (904) 672 - 3856
jim@anacom1.UUCP (Jim Bacon) (11/21/90)
In article <7@rdb1.UUCP> rbarrell@rdb1.UUCP (rbarrell) writes: >In article <47290@bsu-ucs.uucp>, 00smyork@bsu-ucs.uucp (SOME PEOPLE SNIFF GLUE OTHERS SNIFF TAPE) writes: >> I just got into unix and need someone to tell me how to use it if >> anyone would take the time I'd be grateful. > >Steve, > As has been mentioned, the best way to learn unix is to start using it. [....] >Toward this end, I have a few suggestions of possible reading/reference >materials which have been of tremendous help to me, even when I just started >unix/xenix five years ago. [....] > The next which, by the title, may sound surprising is the book _Tricks of >the Unix Masters_ by Russell G. Sage, which is published by Sams. Even though >the title SOUNDS complicated, and even though some of the scripts in it are not >the simplest in the world, all of the material provides excellent examples from >which to learn. I would add _The UNIX Programming Enivironment_, [Kernighan/Pike, Prentice-Hall, pub.] as a very good reference. The first three chapters contain one of the best tutorials I have evr come across on the use and spirit of UNIX. Besides the turorial, the book goes on to introduce the reader to shell scripts, C, and awk. This is certainly a gook hands-on learning book and I reccommend it highly. -- Jim Bacon | "A computer's attention span is only Anacom General Corp., CA | as long as its extension cord." jim@anacom1.cpd.com | lawnet!anacom1!jim | Anon