The Joys of Linux

So it has been a very long while since I last expressed my self in this medium. Lots has changed since that time. However, this post is not meant as a catch up but rather a signal for a new beginning.

For one I am no longer in school.

I originally started this blog as an assignment for a class I took my very last semester at San Francisco State University.

This post is an expression of my appreciation for Linux CLI. Over the course of last year I have continuously worked on becoming more comfortable in the *nix environment. I am happy to report that it has been paying off more then I could have expected. In fact I am giving OS X a try precisely because of its native UNIX environment.

Although the learning curve is very steep, what I am realizing is that POSIX is like a fresh stream of water. You can bring a small canteen or a huge barrel, and it will do the job each and every time. Only difference is how long it takes for you to pump it.

I found many ways to get my moneys worth:

It has been making my job a lot more productive since learning to do some basic scripting. In fact, personal goal of increased automation and efficiency was a big motivation in this endeavor. As I began understanding the rules of the game, I found more and more ways to apply my new found knowledge.

I am able to get more out of my shared hosting service because I actually know how to use SSH and manipulate my environment. I found ways to easily create picture galleries to share with friends with a single command. To boot it is a completely free tool!

I will start periodically posting useful one liners for my self and for my readers. If anything useful catches your eye, please do comment and perhaps I can improve on my methods or learn something new about yours.