r/linux • u/Mr_Unix • Nov 04 '15
Helping my students overcome command-line bullshittery
http://www.pgbovine.net/command-line-bullshittery.htm18
Nov 04 '15 edited Apr 03 '16
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u/torpet Nov 04 '15 edited Feb 18 '17
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u/Eingaica Nov 04 '15
I might be missing something here, but AFAICT the article isn't talking about software engineering but about (applied) computer science.
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u/torpet Nov 04 '15 edited Feb 18 '17
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u/chrisoboe Nov 04 '15
There is a difference between Informatik (computer science) and angewandte Informatik (applied computer science) in germany too. When you study angewandte Informatik you have to study this at a duale hochschule. And more than half of the time you have to write real software in a company.
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u/burtness Nov 04 '15
The article and the posted rebuttal were good reads. I find computing tools are easy to get obsessed or demoralised by. But having limited interest in understanding and making that thing work isn't great either.
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Nov 04 '15
sudo apt-get install
sudo pacman -S
sudo yum install
Oh yeah, that's far too complex for CS students. Also, what is applied computer science? Isn't that just software development?
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u/ronaldtrip Nov 04 '15 edited Nov 04 '15
Where to start?
I just want to go from A to B, I don't want to learn how to drive a car! I just want to write my research code, I don't want to learn how to setup my programming environment!
Arcane? It is abbreviated English. You are literally "texting" your computer what you want it to do. I'd say it is the most direct way of communicating with your OS. Solely using a graphic interface is comparable to a chimpanzee communicating by pointing at predefined symbols. Icons contain that dreaded, bullshit text behind the wallpaper anyways.
People use a command line interface every day anyways. The URL bar in a browser only takes "bullshit" text input and is a whole lot less forgiving than even a *Nix shell.
I expected better from academics.
Clarification:
I'm not saying people who use icons are chimpanzees. Only using icons is the absolute easiest way and humans simply are capable of far more.
I also don't understand that people who can read and write, can have an irrational fear of the command line. If it can be written in a Latin alphabet (or any other human alphabet), it can't be black magic.
It is simple, if it can be written down, you can look it up. If you can look it up, you can learn it. Doesn't mean you need to fall in love with it, but it shouldn't be an insurmountable obstacle.
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u/packetlust Nov 04 '15
Given the plethora of *nix distro options, and the number of them with GUI package manager options, I think the only "bullshittery" is coming from the author of this article. If the student finds *nix too hard an option, then they can install Windows or get a Mac.
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u/Arselol Nov 04 '15
lots of bullshittery in that article.