Classnotes | UNIX01 | RecentChanges | Preferences One of the biggest fears people have about UNIX-like systems is their command line interfaces. In my opinion, this fear is completely unjustified.
Non-UNIX CLIs suck
My theory as to why this fear exists is because the command line interfaces for other modern and semi-modern OSes tend to be very poor and put in almost as an afterthought.
CP/M was a half-way decent low-end OS, and it's multi-user/tasking enhancement MP/M probably would have been a decent mid-range OS. But CP/M's CLI was rather simplistic and limitted. MS-DOS was, let's face it, an ugly rip-off of CP/M, and was never intended to be used much as a "real OS". MS-DOS hampered Microsoft's Windows line pretty severely (640k limit anyone?) until the NT strain where it was neutered even more. Higher-end systems like VMS/VAX had more robust CLIs, but even they left much to be desired in usability.
Thus, it is very easy to belie CLIs because many non-UNIX people have yet to see one that helps rather than hinders.
Do Not Fear the CLI!
If there is only one point I can get across to the people in this class is that they should not fear the UNIX command line! It may seem complicated at first, but stick with it and you will see how much power the UNIX CLI grants you.
Some key points to remember about the UNIX CLI:
UNIX is case-sensitive! Remember that UNIX and C have a common ancestry, so it is not unexpected that UNIX is case-sensitive.
UNIX has several control characters. If you find your CLI is not-responding, it does not necessarily mean that your system has locked up. Chances are you accidentally hit a special control character.
UNIX CLI commands are typically not like DOS commands. If you find you are getting strange errors from simple commands, check your syntax.
