Filed under: Humor, UNIX / BSD, Terminal Tips
Unix for the Beginning Mage
If you want to learn the OS X command line, but find the available books intimidating, bristle at the thought you should read anything for "dummies," or just worry that you may by eaten by a grue while plumbing the depths of /dev/random, Unix for the Beginning Mage may be just what you're looking for. The book, available as a free PDF download, takes a humorous approach to learning some basic features of the unix shell and environment. The premise is that you are a mage in some D&D inspired world learning to cast "spells" from the command line. The better your spellcasting becomes, the farther you advance through the "Tower of Nix." Best of all, the example commands are all executed in the OS X Terminal.app, although it's basic enough the examples should work without too much effort on other unices as well. So if you've been avoiding the command line, you're officially out of excuses; drop by and read this very, very gentle introduction to Unix the Unix Mages have put together.Just keep a Scroll of Kill -9 ready and watch out for that grue.
[thanks Scott!]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Alex said 7:36PM on 10-16-2005
I downloaded it, did the first lesson, and i'm very excited, I've always wanted to learn unix, and this is perfect!
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Kris said 8:25PM on 10-16-2005
Not mac related, but there are a couple books by Rick Cook in the Wiz Biz series about a programmer that revolutionizes a magic world by reorganizing magic spells into easy to use scripts and programs. Its pretty nerdy, but its a fun read.
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Joe said 10:55PM on 10-16-2005
I believe this is what you're referring to: http://www.baen.com/library/0671878468/0671878468___0.htm
I forget where I saw that link, but it was after I wrote the book. Been meaning to read it since to get some new ideas!
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Kris said 8:21AM on 10-17-2005
Yup, that's the one. Baen compiled the series into two books - The Wiz Biz and The Wiz Biz 2.
http://www.baen.com/author_catalog.asp?author=rcook
Incidently, nice work on the unix book, Joe! I've only skimmed the PDF at this point, but I'll definitely be picking up a hardcopy.
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Karl Otto Henriksen said 11:14AM on 10-17-2005
I did download it and tried it out. (Read the whole thing and did all the lessons.) It is a fun and easy way to learn unix. I would like it to go further, it only covers the basics. But all in all it is a nice walkthroug for a mac newbie like me :) (Any other links like this is appreciated)
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Alan said 12:14PM on 10-17-2005
Hahahaha... GREAT Zork reference!
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