On Sat, Jan 31, 2004 at 08:51:00AM -0500, Joel wrote: > What I meant about the command prompt was "Are all the command prompts the > same? Also, could running the Activeperl software damage my system at all > since it is using a command prompt? Hmm, it looks like you have been told the whole 'the command prompt is dangerous and should be avoided' line :)
Software can damage your system, and the command prompt is just
software. However, unless you tell it to it won't. I spend 99% of my
time in Linux, where I usually have several command prompts open at a
time, and it is where I do most of my work (system admin things, email,
running java code, etc. My actual coding happens in emacs, which is a
text editor with a built in command line :) (take notepad, genetically
engineer a super-strain, pump it up on steroids, and you have something
with a fraction of the utility of emacs, (or vi for that matter:))
For developing Perl software, you will want to become familiar with the
command prompt, it will make life so much easier. It means you can run
your program, type input, read the output, play with command line
parameters, and so on, all in one handy interface. Learn it, and you'll
find that it isn't so scary. The commands you will need to start with:
cd (change dir)
dir (list dir contents)
type (dump a text file to the screen, also type file.ext | more, pipes
the output of the 'type' into 'more', which views it a page at a
time)
exit (closes the command prompt)
del (deletes a file)
from there, you can do things like:
perl myfile.pl (runs a perl program)
notepad myfile.pl (opens it in notepad)
The more complex commands (del, dir, etc) have a /? option that tell you
their options. Some versions of command.com/cmd.exe had a 'help' command
that listed the builtin commands. I haven't used that seriously for a
few years, so don't know if it is still there.
Eventually, you will find yourself becoming more and more efficient. It
will also make the transition to being a power user of a real OS much
easier, when the UNIX-alikes take over the world once again ;)
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