[Novalug] Linux and Novallug

Jon LaBadie novalugml@jgcomp.com
Tue Sep 19 04:55:27 EDT 2017


On Sat, Sep 16, 2017 at 05:02:15PM -0400, James Ewing Cottrell III via Novalug wrote:
> On 9/16/2017 10:19 AM, Rich Kulawiec via Novalug wrote:
> > This message is essentially a restatement of "The Trouble with Unix",
> > a rather (in)famous Datamation article on Unix published in 1981.
> > I recommend locating and reading it for some historical perspective.
> 
> There is a guy named Bryan Lunduke that does dual 'Linux Sucks' and 'Linux
> is Awesome' presentations at Linux fests, often back to back. Look for him
> on YouTube.
> 
> > A few scattered comments in no particular order:
> > 
> > > What ever happened to decent manuals with some examples and some
> > > description of how it works?
> 
> They are still there. Read them, Cover to Cover. OK, you can skip parts that
> bore you.
> 
> Try the following:
> 
> cd /bin
> man ??
> man ???
> man ????
> 
> The idea here is that the shortest command are in general the most
> important/frequently used.
> 
Lots of those commands with short names originated in early UNIX
when Teletype machines were the human interface device.  Pressing
those stiff, long travel keys was error prone and finger fatiguing.
It made sense to use short names for commonly used commands.

jl
-- 
Jon H. LaBadie                  novalugml@jgcomp.com
 11226 South Shore Rd		(703) 787-0688 (H)
 Reston, VA  20190		(703) 935-6720 (C)



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