Overcoming Fear of the Command Line with Rainbows and Dragons
Three Quick Tips
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by
mJordan Levine
Problem #1
The command line was a dark and terrifying place that I was scared to go as a new programmer.
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Tip #1
Bring a creature along to protect you
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Combine the magical powers of 'cowsay' (ASCII art) and 'lolcat' (rainbows) to create...
Tip #1
# Greeting that lives inside my .zshrc file
cowsay -f dragon 'Greetings, Human!' | lolcat@mJordanCodes
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Problem #2
Commands like 'rm -rf /' exist.
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Tip #2
Defang the beast
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Set an alias for 'rm' that gives a totally harmless warning.
Tip #2
# Alias rm to make it harmless
alias rm='echo "Cant touch this"'@mJordanCodes
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Problem #3
The command line is intimidating and frustrating enough. Typos just make things more annoying.
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Tip #3
Make errors more exciting
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Install "alternative" programs to deal with common typos.
Tip #3
For me, the two commands I use (and typo) the most frequently are "ls" and "git"
Demo Time!
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Very little makes me as angry as the error messages that have "Did you mean..."
Tip #3 Bonus
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Questions?
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