There’s also something to be said for the Unix pipeline/filter model of processing. That way of breaking down a task into small steps, wiring little programs to filter the data for each step, building up the solution iteratively, essentially a form of function composition. Immedidately, you can do a lot of powerful one-off or scripting tasks right from the command line. More generally, it’s a very powerful model to have in your head, can transform your thinking.
-Tod On Oct 27, 2014, at 9:53 AM, Cary Gordon <listu...@chillco.com> wrote: > It really depends on what you mean by "learn Unix." > > I agree with Eric that many tools, particularly open source tools, are more > robust on l > Linux. This is because most of their development communities are building > on Linux, so new features and bug fixes show up their first. > > I live in the open source, Linux-based development world, as as a service > and management tool developer, I never use Linux GUIs. I think that folks > who are going to be installing and maintaining services on Linux servers > should become comfortable with the command line tools The will be using. > > Commercial Unix systems are dying out except for specialized industries > like banking and airlines. It also hangs on in systems that use the > full-boat Oracle suite, although it may be losing ground there. > > The most popular flavor families of Linux — RedHat (Fedora, CentOS, AWS) > and Debian (Ubuntu) — as well as the system that underlies OS X share a > common toolset, which makes it much easier to move from one to another than > it is to move between BSD and System V based proprietary Unix systems. > > Cary > > On Monday, October 27, 2014, Siobhain Rivera <siori...@indiana.edu> wrote: > >> Hi everyone, >> >> I'm part of the ASIS&T Student Chapter and Indiana University, and we're >> putting together a series of workshops on Unix. We've noticed that a lot of >> people don't seem to have a good idea of why they should learn Unix, >> particularly the reference/non technology types. We're going to do some >> more research to make a fact sheet about the uses of Unix, but I thought >> I'd pose the question to the list - what do you think are reasons >> librarians need to know Unix, even if they aren't in particularly tech >> heavy jobs? >> >> I'd appreciate any input. Have a great week! >> >> Siobhain Rivera >> Indiana University Bloomington >> Library Science, Digital Libraries Specialization >> ASIS&T-SC, Webmaster >> > > > -- > Cary Gordon > The Cherry Hill Company > http://chillco.com
