Preface

2

be easily followed, maybe in one’s spare time, as nowadays it’s always very complex for people to

find time to study big tomes.

I usually avoid trying to be funny when writing or speaking in English; it’s not my native language,

so I lack the vocabulary and the comedic timing. But a thing that I learned many years ago is

that a laugh helps people to remember what was said, so this time I decided to try with a light-

hearted approach. I hope this will ease the read and make your journey into the Unix world more

comfortable.

If it doesn’t work, I apologise in advance. you can always go and get some ancient tome of dark

magic like “The Unix Bible”. I’m pretty sure you will remember for years the moment in which

you’ll manage to conjure some sort of multi-tentacular Lovecraftian horror, but I’m not sure this

will have a significant impact on your career. If we exclude the fact that it will probably put an end

to it.

Why you should read this book

If you are a programmer, nowadays you probably got in touch with Open Source software, with

version control system like Git, with cloud services like AWS, with some dynamic language like

Python or Ruby. What do all these things have in common? Many things probably, but one of them

is definitely that they are rooted in the Unix world. ¹

That of Unix is a rich world, and this book will not even scratch the surface. but one of the most

powerful things Unix systems have is the command line. Yes, in 2019, with AIs constantly processing

everything we search and do online, mobile phones with perfect user interfaces, and proper virtual

reality around the corner, the good old green-on-black terminal still has something to say. More

than something!

The command line is a tool that I think will never get too old to be useful. I am happy when the GUI

of some program is simple and well designed, but there is simply nothing that can give you more

power than the command line.

So, long story short, you should definitely learn at least the fundamentals of the command line!

Who should not read the book

To put it simply, this is a primer, so if you are an advanced Unix user you should stop reading here.

This book is not for you. If you decide to go on, however, please consider that this wants to be an

introduction to Unix for people who never heard of it. Yeah, I know it sounds incredible that people

can use a computer without a terminal and that they can survive day by day thinking that pipes

convey water and that sockets can be found on walls, but this is why I believe a book like this can

be useful.

¹Sure, you can have all these things in your Windows laptop (Windows is not a Unix-like operating system), but I can’t recommend it. I

mean, you bought a water pistol, and you want to use it with real bullets. Good luck!