07-05-2009, 04:56 PM

Hey all,

I've been running leopard since the day it came out and realized that I've been missing out on one of the biggest features: TERMINAL!! I really want to learn the language it's based on but I really don't know what it is... I think it's UNIX but I don't know if that's a language or not. So does anyone know what language it operates on. Even though I know it's not a 'programming' language, but what is it. Then, is there a good book to read to learn it??

Thanks! Sorry for being a n00b!

07-05-2009, 06:08 PM

It's not so much a language as a command set. When you open Terminal you get the Bash shell where you can type in commands or run shell scripts.
I had a link for Bash but cant find it, but these may help you:
LinuxCommand.org: Learn the Linux command line. Write shell scripts.
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prompt-HOWTO/

Try doing a google search on Bash, should be thousands of hits.

07-05-2009, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by Qcom

Hey all,

I've been running leopard since the day it came out and realized that I've been missing out on one of the biggest features: TERMINAL!! I really want to learn the language it's based on but I really don't know what it is... I think it's UNIX but I don't know if that's a language or not. So does anyone know what language it operates on. Even though I know it's not a 'programming' language, but what is it. Then, is there a good book to read to learn it??

Thanks! Sorry for being a n00b!

Unix is not a programming language but an operating system which OS X is based on. See here for more info.

It's always nice to see another person get interested in Unix and the command line but I must warn you that you can screw a lot of things up if you don't know what you're doing. You can very easily delete everything on your machine with one command. That said, the command line can be very helpful if you know what you're doing. As such, my recommendation is that you try running a virtual machine with Linux, Solaris or BSD (other *nix or *nix like OSes). In the virtual machine, execute any command you want - at least this way any damage will be contained to the virtual machine and won't affect any of your files. The best piece of advice I can give is this: if you don't know what a command does, don't execute it and make use of man pages (type "man <cmd>" without the quotes and replacing <cmd> with the command) to better understand commands.

As for books, I can't help you there as what I know of *nix is self-taught. I would be glad to answer any of your questions though.

07-06-2009, 12:22 AM

Thanks everyone! Great links, cradom (I had already found one of the ones you posted though). Vansmith, I really appreciate the tip on data loss and running it on a virtual machine. Would ubuntu work? Or would Solaris or BSD be better and what do you mean by *nix OSes?

07-06-2009, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by Qcom

Thanks everyone! Great links, cradom (I had already found one of the ones you posted though). Vansmith, I really appreciate the tip on data loss and running it on a virtual machine. Would ubuntu work? Or would Solaris or BSD be better and what do you mean by *nix OSes?

*nix is a short form for the family of operating systems that are Unix or Unix like.

Ubuntu would work. It's a good start for those unfamiliar to *nix. OS X is loosely based off of BSD so BSD is probably the closest to OS X but it is harder to learn. Although, you could virtualize something like PC-BSD which is a version of FreeBSD suited for the desktop.

07-06-2009, 12:17 PM

If I were to learn the Ubuntu command-line, would that enable me to work all of the terminals assocciated with Linux? Also, would I then be able to run the Mac OS X Terminal? Is this: http://tldp.org/LDP/intro-linux/html/index.html a good site for learning the Linux command-line?