CSCI 3294 (Unix Power Tools), Spring 2005:
Homework 8

Assigned:

April 25, 2005.

Due:

May 2, 2005, at 5pm.

Credit:

10 points.

Problems

Answer the following questions. You may write out your answers by hand or using a word processor or other program, but please submit hard copy, either in class or in my mailbox in the department office. Answers to most questions will involve experimentation on a UNIX or Linux system. You are free to use any appropriate system; if you use something other than Red Hat Linux please tell me what.

1. (10 points) Write at least a page of prose about this course, answering the following questions.

   First some compare/contrast/philosophize questions:

   • Suppose a friend with no computer experience outside the Windows/GUI environment asked you why anyone would still want to use a command-line environment in the year 2004. What would you tell him/her? (You don't have to pretend to be a CLI convert if you're not; just try to come up with reasons why anyone would be.)

   • The ``traditional Unix'' environment emphasizes small single-purpose programs and standardized mechanisms for connecting them (pipes, I/O redirection, text files). Most current commercial software in contrast seems to focus on large ``all-in-one'' programs (that do many things) and often-proprietary binary file formats. What advantages and disadvantages do you think each approach has? (Consider user-friendliness from the perspective of both novice and expert users, program reliability, and anything else that seems interesting or relevant.)

   And then some ``taking a poll'' questions:

   • What did you find most interesting or valuable about this course? Do you feel that your horizons were broadened a bit? Did you learn anything that you think will become part of the ``bag of tricks'' you use fairly often? Was there anything that you thought we could just as well have skipped?

   • Did you buy either or both of the recommended textbooks? Did you find them interesting and/or useful? If you used the online readings instead, did you find them interesting and/or useful?

   • Were the homeworks helpful in cementing your understanding of what we discussed in class?

   • Should the department offer a course like this regularly?

   • Is there anything else you want to say about the course?