Why use the command line?

Many Mac OS X users won't have any need to use the Unix shell that the Terminal app can add to their graphical interface. After all, there's always SOME way to get what you need through the GUI. It may take a long time, it may drive you crazy, but you can almost always do whatever it is you need to do. For some GUI users (especially some Mac GUI users), it's almost a religion: the command line is evil, and we won't be using that Terminal.app, thank you very much anyway.

If you aren't quite that prejudiced, the command line is Power Central. This is where you can do complicated tasks with a few keystrokes, things that would keep you and your mouse busy for hours any other way. Even Microsoft, long a champion of the GUI way, has recognized the power of the command line and although I feel they messed it up, they are adding more powerful command line shells to their new server products.

Some people approach the command line as though it were all magic. Learn the magic incantation, and that fixes this problem. Got a new problem? Ask somebody for the magic words to fix it. You can find lots of tips sites like that; type this to fix that, and you are done.

That's not what this site is about. Here, I'll be teaching you the how and why of things, with no magic words. Some of the articles and posts will be for beginners, some for the more advanced. Some of what I'll cover here could be used on any Unix or Linux system, but the main focus will always be Mac. I post every single day unless I'm deathly sick or the internet is down, so come back often and thanks for reading.

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