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Unix Tricks

As with most other computer software - OSes, applications, programming languages - I am self-taught in Unix.

This is good and bad (overall, not just Unix-specific):

• Good: I have lots of skills and experience in figuring out the unknown. I'm not locked into one mode of thinking ("Java is for servlets" or "Java is for JSPs"). I'm not lost without class notes or my course books. Brand-new stuff doesn't throw me - it's all been new.


• Bad: I'm sure I've learned some bad habits - no doubt. And being taught (via book, course, or with another user of the software) helps you discover things you'd have never discovered on your own - or it would have taken some time.

For example: Just today, I learned about units in Unix.

How the hell did I not know about this before?

And how cool are units?

Unix continues to surprise me. Well, not surprise, really - more like it continues to amaze me, as I've almost gotten used to seeing something new (to me) that's packed into the OS. Seems to be no end to it. Which is great!

And that's one of the reasons that I consider myself almost a Unix newbie: I write shell scripts, love the command line, always have at least two terminal windows open...but there's so much out there.

Take the "cal" command - hell, for a Windows system, this would be a separate app: In Unix, it's part of the kernel. Yeah yeah yeah, you can use Outlook for this to a degree...but can you find out what day, for example, the Fourth of July fell on in 1776?

Unix: []# cal 07 1776 (a Thursday, I see...)

Again, I'm continually amazed.

And I like...

Update (a couple of minutes later):

I was just going through the man pages on the site I linked above to the cal page.

And I didn't know about the "-3" argument. (Displays the month specified, as well as the previous and next month)

Holy crap I like this stuff....