Command Line for Kids

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Work in Progress

This is my syllabus for the 2012 Free Geek Summer Camp Command Line class.

Class Teaching Goals
  • have fun, promote interest
  • run a program
  • introduce options and arguments using cowsay
  • introduce the command prompt
  • introduce man pages
  • introduce file system
  • Tab completion?
  • navigation and keyboard skills
Main concepts
  • command line provides more direct access to the functions of your computer
  • using the command line gives you total access: Use it wisely!
Questions to pose to the class
  • Why use the command line?
  • Have you ever used the command line before? What happened?
  • Do we use command line in Windows? What is different about Linux command line?
Exercise
$ sudo apt-get install cowsay
$ cowsay

Why does nothing happen? This program needs something else from us to run. Let's check the manual.

$man cowsay

It looks like we need the cow to say something. Hit the q key to exit the man page.

So it looks like we have some different modes. There is -b for Borg mode -d for Dead mode -g for Greedy mode and so on.


Key words
  • command line
  • graphical user interface
  • man page


Fun things

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl