Revision as of 13:27, 8 July 2015

Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are helpful for many tasks, but they box you in in the tasks the designer designed the GUI for. This is true to a certain extent for the command-line too, as it relies on the commands available. Still, some commands are so basic (close to the kernel), and come with many flags and options, or can be built on easily and be combined with other commands in shell scripts, that knowing the command-line and shell scripting is well worth the effort.

Command Line Culture (CLIC)

Some people use a Command Line Interface (CLI) extensively, and like it more than a GUI. After a ten-step program, they will admit something like, "I am a command line junkie, I like it far better than pointing and clicking. I have become adicted to the bash command, and the basic linux utilities. I find myself installing the basic GNU tools on any system I use. Heck I even installed cygnus-win on my windows gaming box. Mmmm... Command completion... Tasty!"

A only somewhat more sane version of that seems to be running a GUI and a command line at the same time and switching between the two depending on what needs doing. Usually things can be done faster with the command line, but there are situations, such as doing something with multiple directories, when a GUI is more efficient.

$ cd /insanely/long/directory/path/you/thought/you/were/there/yet/but/no/muhhahahaaa/aaaaah

Typing that tends to waste time, even when using that yummy command completion. When doing that same thing regularly with the GUI, that may get annoying too and scripting ensues. Goodbye ten step plan. :D

Since bodies and machines are often seen in opposition, I suggest that they are better perceived complementary in nature rather than antagonistic. For people who have never worked with command line computing on a standard *nix machine, – especially for people who are already conditioned to point and click methods cultivated by GUIs such as Windows OS or Mac OS – this involves sensitising procedures, (i.e. like one may endure with any new instrumental skill acquisition) for the operation of code as a series of interrelated programs. I will discuss how using the command line interface may be seen to possibly co-constitute one another in everyday life, operating as fields of embodied reflection. ^[1]

Getting started

Working with files

Input/Output redirection

Regular expressions

Network connections

Process management (job control)

Shell scripting

Network connections

Reconnaissance

Reverse engineering

Network exploitation and monitoring

1. ↑ Linux for Theatre Makers: Embodiment and *nix modus operandi http://networkcultures.org/blog/2007/04/23/linux-for-theatre-makers-embodiment-and-nix-modus-operandi/