3 ms·

For even faster learning make sure the remote machine is far enough away that network lag is a factor. It’s amazing how fast the student will learn I/O redirect

by koolba 6y ago

For even faster learning make sure the remote machine is far enough away that network lag is a factor. It’s amazing how fast the student will learn I/O redirection, tailing files, and grepping for needles, and of course automating the entire build / test lifecycle.

nerdponx 6y ago
I first learned not only the Unix CLI but Vim under these conditions. I typed the HTML for my student website by hand in a minimal and ancient Vim build, because student websites were hosted on some kind of Unix mainframe. It probably took me 2 hours to write 5 sentences! I was so proud of myself that I added a footer to the effect of: > This page was typed painstakingly in Vim. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I'm sure I would have eventually forced myself to learn Vim anyway if I never had access to this Unix system, but it was definitely important and formative to start off this way.
- gpvos 6y ago
  When I was at uni and I logged in from home with my 1200 baud modem, I used vi's "open mode" (no, vim doesn't have it), which is visual mode, but restricted to one line at a time. I even had a shell alias for "ex +o $*" to start it. It was quite fun to use, but nowadays it's not terribly useful anymore, so I can see why vim hasn't implemented it.
agumonkey 6y ago
And compression
ASalazarMX 6y ago
Having used a 3270 terminal in an extremely saturated system, it's amazing how much your way of working changes. Typing a full page of code, checking for typos, doing a test run in your head, then finally pressing Enter and sipping your coffee while the system took 1-2 minutes to process the screen. As soon as it was upgraded, we reverted to the normal workflow of pressing Enter first, the correcting typos, paginating instead of searching, debugging live instead of in our heads, etc. I don't think we were more of less productive either way, they're just different ways of working.

by koolba 6y ago

nerdponx 6y ago

I first learned not only the Unix CLI but Vim under these conditions. I typed the HTML for my student website by hand in a minimal and ancient Vim build, because student websites were hosted on some kind of Unix mainframe. It probably took me 2 hours to write 5 sentences! I was so proud of myself that I added a footer to the effect of: > This page was typed painstakingly in Vim. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I'm sure I would have eventually forced myself to learn Vim anyway if I never had access to this Unix system, but it was definitely important and formative to start off this way.

gpvos 6y ago
When I was at uni and I logged in from home with my 1200 baud modem, I used vi's "open mode" (no, vim doesn't have it), which is visual mode, but restricted to one line at a time. I even had a shell alias for "ex +o $*" to start it. It was quite fun to use, but nowadays it's not terribly useful anymore, so I can see why vim hasn't implemented it.

agumonkey 6y ago

And compression

ASalazarMX 6y ago

Having used a 3270 terminal in an extremely saturated system, it's amazing how much your way of working changes. Typing a full page of code, checking for typos, doing a test run in your head, then finally pressing Enter and sipping your coffee while the system took 1-2 minutes to process the screen. As soon as it was upgraded, we reverted to the normal workflow of pressing Enter first, the correcting typos, paginating instead of searching, debugging live instead of in our heads, etc. I don't think we were more of less productive either way, they're just different ways of working.