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While I'm glad that you aren't dismissing Windows out of hand like some people, interleaving the Windows instructions with the POSIX instructions could get a bi

While I'm glad that you aren't dismissing Windows out of hand like some people, interleaving the Windows instructions with the POSIX instructions could get a bit confusing. It may be better to maintain separate builds of the book for POSIX and Windows.

mechanical_fish 15y ago
I thought this looked like an interesting, possibly-unique feature, not a bug. Including Windows up-front ensures that whoever picks up the book can make use of it immediately, no matter which computer they happen to be sitting in front of. Also, as one who knows the Unix command line pretty well but knows next-to-nothing about Windows, it's good to get exposed to a similar-yet-different style of command line. And if I ever need to use Windows again I plan to try this book first: By covering both in parallel, the book might turn out to be a pretty good guide to learning one in terms of the other.
- dredmorbius 15y ago
  It's easy enough to get a POSIX/Linux toolkit via Cygwin. Though this does assume the user is allowed/enabled to install software. Barring that, bootable CD / USB distros are also highly tenable. The default Ubuntu installation disk includes this, though there are many other options.
  - LeafStorm 15y ago
    ...Except Zed's whole point with this is that you don't have to use the fancy Cygwin/POSIXy stuff or a Linux Live CD or whatever to do programming and the command line. POSIX environments are better for programming, but you don't need them, and a lot of the people who would benefit most from learning programming don't have Linux experience and wouldn't do it if they had to do something fancy to get a UNIX-y environment.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
    - dredmorbius 15y ago
      For me it's more a matter of cognitive simplicity. I can use a POSIX environment anywhere. It's one less hurdle if that's the tool I'm using. I've learned (and forgotten) numerous proprietary system languages. I prefer sticking with stuff that will be around. POSIX/Unix/Linux have demonstrated staying power.
zedshaw 15y ago
I'm going to try it this way and see if it helps a kind of a "CLI rosetta stone". If it doesn't work I'll just have dexy generate two separate docs.

mechanical_fish 15y ago

I thought this looked like an interesting, possibly-unique feature, not a bug. Including Windows up-front ensures that whoever picks up the book can make use of it immediately, no matter which computer they happen to be sitting in front of. Also, as one who knows the Unix command line pretty well but knows next-to-nothing about Windows, it's good to get exposed to a similar-yet-different style of command line. And if I ever need to use Windows again I plan to try this book first: By covering both in parallel, the book might turn out to be a pretty good guide to learning one in terms of the other.

dredmorbius 15y ago
It's easy enough to get a POSIX/Linux toolkit via Cygwin. Though this does assume the user is allowed/enabled to install software. Barring that, bootable CD / USB distros are also highly tenable. The default Ubuntu installation disk includes this, though there are many other options.
- LeafStorm 15y ago
  ...Except Zed's whole point with this is that you don't have to use the fancy Cygwin/POSIXy stuff or a Linux Live CD or whatever to do programming and the command line. POSIX environments are better for programming, but you don't need them, and a lot of the people who would benefit most from learning programming don't have Linux experience and wouldn't do it if they had to do something fancy to get a UNIX-y environment.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - dredmorbius 15y ago
    For me it's more a matter of cognitive simplicity. I can use a POSIX environment anywhere. It's one less hurdle if that's the tool I'm using. I've learned (and forgotten) numerous proprietary system languages. I prefer sticking with stuff that will be around. POSIX/Unix/Linux have demonstrated staying power.

zedshaw 15y ago

I'm going to try it this way and see if it helps a kind of a "CLI rosetta stone". If it doesn't work I'll just have dexy generate two separate docs.