Eli Schwartz wrote:
> On 6/5/25 11:32 AM, Mark Knecht wrote:
>> A book is one way to go, especially if someone trusted recommends
>> the title.
>>
>> As for me - and this isn't bash scripting - but I've learned Python just
>> using videos on YouTube coupled with asking AI Helpers {Chat GTP,
>> Gemini, Claude, Deepseek, Copilot} either questions I want answered
>> or, more importantly, providing it with some code I wrote and asking it
>> two basic questions:
>>
>> 1) What does this code do?
>>
>> 2) Are there any problems this code might cause or side effects I
>> should be aware of?
>>
>> Those two questions plus a copy of my real data I want to work on
>> so that it doesn't make a mistake and delete or corrupt my real data
>> have allowed me to make a lot of progress without spending a
>> penny. I suspect this would work well for you if it suits your learning
>> style.
>>
>> I see plenty of videos on YouTube about bash scripting.
>>
>> All of the AI helpers will answer 20-30 questions a day for free so
>> there's no cost involved, and you can ask each of them the same
>> questions to get multiple points of view on solving your problems.
>
> Artificial non-intelligence is based on a sophisticated
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Libs generator. It is a program
> designed to produce pseudorandom output streams with a weight towards
> grammatically correct output.
>
> It possesses no knowledge or reasoning and literally *cannot* possess
> the attribute of being correct. It is very good at superficially looking
> correct. Whether or not it actually is correct is up to a roll of the dice.
>
> Any knowledgeable AI user will tell you: AI *cannot* be safely used
> unless you already know what you are doing and can review the results
> before running it. AI proponents find AI useful to reduce the manual
> labor involved in writing the script -- ***not*** for figuring out the
> correct thing to do. This is an iterative process of rejecting answers
> that look wrong and tweaking the prompt, getting the AI to try again and
> again until it gets the right answer.
>
> DO NOT USE AI AS A TEACHER. YOU WILL BREAK YOUR SYSTEM IRREPARABLY.
>
> You will delete all your data by accident.
>
> You will be the latest example of a foolish fool posting on Reddit in
> tears, asking if there is any way to recover years worth of labor that
> wasn't backed up properly.
>
> You will learn nothing, or you will learn how to write incorrect and
> buggy scripts because you aren't able to evaluate which answers are
> hallucinations.
>
>I'm not big on the AI thing yet either. Reminds me of that movie Terminator and a few others. I'm not real sure about us going down that road myself. One thing I like about the book I linked to, it is new. It should be good for all the new versions of software. The bad thing about being new, no one has wrote a review on it yet. I was hoping someone here might have bought a copy or knew someone who did. I think I'll risk it and just buy the thing. I'm not looking to create a new distro or anything so it should hopefully be good enough, if I can understand what it is saying. Like that command mountpoint. I was wondering how one can check if something is mounted or not. No idea that existed. o_O I'll post back when it comes in and I get a chance to read it. If I can figure out what it is saying, it should be good for almost anyone. :-D Thanks. Dale :-) :-)
