[conspire] (forw) Re: (forw) Re: Linux server

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Denny Yang (yangcdenny at gmail.com):

> Now I am trying my best to learn, in depth, on the commands (and their
> options). In additional to working during the day, having short term
> memory is not helping "memorizing" all the commands...ha ha.  I guess
> this is something that I will EVENTUALLY get used to once I start
> applying the concepts into the real world (if I ever passed the exam
> and get a job... ha ha).

As a tip, don't work at memorising commands.  That'll just waste your
limited time and attention, because you won't know up-front which are
worth that effort.  Instead, just use them, and the significant ones
will lodge in your mind over time.  Moreover, you'll learn to use their
'man' (manual) pages to refresh your memory.  Even after many decades of
using Unix, there are many particulars of command syntax I still look up
nearly every time, because it's just not worth the trouble to memorise.

'man' pages are an example of the documentation category called 'quick
reference'.  They are _not_ designed to learn the material from.  They
are refresher material in ultra-terse form.  

Documentation divides conceptually into reference and tutorial catories,
and 'quick reference' is of course a specialised type of reference
material.  Tutorials are to learn from; references are to look details
up in after you already know the subject.

I mention this basic framework because generations of Unix newcomers
have made the mistake of attempting to learn Unix basics from 'man'
pages, and they're not designed for that.  You can do it (learn Unix
basics from 'man' pages plus a lot of experimentation, but it's
gratuitously difficult.

A good computer book to learn basics from will be laid out as a pure
tutorial, such as Mark G. Sobell's _A Practical Guide to Linux_ or
Matthias Kalle Dalheimer and Matt Welsh's _Running Linux_.  In other
words, a good book designed to learn from will not attempt to
simultaneously be a tutorial and a reference volume.  Unfortunately,
most computer books are badly designed in _exactly_ that way:  They are
written to occupy both categories, hence do neither one very well.
(You can spot them by their bloated page count.[1]  Buyers seem to want
hideously bloated computer books, so the market delivers them.)


> I promise I will try my best to leave you guys alone and not to ask too
> many questions throughout my learning curve.

About that:  You cannot keep sending basic Linux queries to
installers at linuxmafia.com.  That is an address for inquiries for people
hoping to attend CABAL Linux installfests to get help with installation.

What you should do instead is participate in the Linux community, e.g., 
join Linux user group mailing lists and join the discussion.

CABAL's mailing list (CC'd) is here:  
http://linuxmafia.com/mailman/listinfo/conspire
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[1] In fairness, the two above-cited books in recent editions have been
reaching for absurd page counts, too.