 SteveI know your IP addressConsultant
join:2001-03-10
Yorba Linda, CA
kudos:5 | reply to Crypto5
Re: The One Page Linux Manual said by bellers:
As many as are required to get your work done
This is right on the money. I suppose that memorizing boatloads of UNIX commands might make one a hit with the ladies in some circles, but it sure as hell never worked for me.
Learning concepts is a lot more important than learning details, because you can always look up which option does this or that. In addition, once you start working on multiple platforms, each of which might work a little differently, remembering that it's -a instead of -b is a minor benefit.
When I was a UNIX newbie in 1981, I spent my time reading the UNIX man pages at night before bed. Not only did this insure no distractions from any kind of "social life", but it also gave me a big-picture idea of what kinds of commands were out there. I didn't even think about memorizing options - it would have been pointless. Instead I simply noted what kinds of facilities were available, so later on I would say "Hey, I know I saw a command for something like this". Then I'd be able to look it up and be the clever fellow. One of the jokers in the VAX room got me a T-shirt that said "system manual".
Your brain can only hold so much stuff, so I'd much rather know the difference between the various kinds of disk partitions than know which fdisk options requested them.
Steve
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Stephen J. Friedl / Software Consultant / Tustin, California USA / »www.unixwiz.net |
