[HLUG] Command Line Witchcraft?

[Malcolm Herbert]

On Tue, 2010-02-23 at 14:46 +0000, Sarah Chard wrote:
> Malcolm
> that is exactly my point - you learnt early on so using cli is not scary
> for you - it's not out of your comfort zone or in any way unusual and
> you are not worried at all about using it because you understand it.
> 
> As my partner commented when I spoke about this conversation 
> 'why would i want to do any of that stuff - I don't want lots of choice
> - if I want to go to Tenbury I just get in the car and go - I don't need
> to be a motor mechanic to drive a car'

ah, time to re-read Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance" as there is a very eloquent argument that everyone who does
drive a car (or motorbike) _should_ know how it works and the basics of
fixing and tuning it. 
> 
> That's the point about the command line - those people who use their
> systems for the basics ie email, web, word processing etc - have no need
> to learn cli they don't mind what others perceive as the limitations of
> a GUI they just want to get the task done quickly and easily.
> For those who want to go further the cli is there - but it can be quite
> a steep learning curve if you have no experience and no understanding of
> 'why' and 'what' you are doing so just starting to use the cli can be
> daunting.
> It may be quicker and easier to do tasks once you have learnt how to
> use the cli and it may open further doors for you but lots of people
> won't have the desire/time/confidence to start using the cli - 
> A good GUI also make's all the difference in persuading people to move
> to Linux.

Linux is the only desktop OS that gives you a CLI, which should be a
selling tool. I'm not advocating that it should be compulsory and I work
for a company where 30% of the staff (mainly in sales) avoid the CLI and
use the GUI, but do bring up a terminal window when the need to. Some
coaching and they have the confidence to fix this whilst on the phone to
a colleague. 

there are still developers in RH who don't use X, and run their virtual
terminals quite happily, with mutt/emacs etc as productivity tools

I'm not one of them

Malc

> 
> Sarah
> 
> On Tue, 2010-02-23 at 12:23 +0000, Malcolm Herbert wrote:
> > i learnt to use vi whilst at Poly 25 years ago; a 1970's editor with
> > querky commands and an ancient interface; why was i learning this ?
> > 
> > i still use it everyday (nope, never got on with emacs) and still does
> > things a lot of GUI editors can't
> > 
> > my VAX / PDP11 days also mean command line wins everytime; sure you can
> > do damage, but you have the power you don't have with a GUI interface.
> > scripts, loops, aliases and repitition etc
> > 
> > Malc
> 
> 
> 


-- 
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Dr Malcolm Herbert
Director, EMEA Strategy & Solutions Office
t: +44 7720 079845
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