原文:
A few months ago I took the Introduction to Linux course offered through edX. It's an 18 chapter course with lots of reading, some videos, and a casual level of testing your knowledge. I wrote about the first six chapters and how the course works in, What happens when a non-coder tries to learn Linux. In this article, I cover the first 6 chapters of the course, where we begin to dive into the day to day usage of Linux.
What was covered
The course provides a practical guide to "getting around" in Linux, covering some of the most commonly used commands. Although these topics are not particularly difficult to understand, and may be old hat for some users, newcomers will quickly become lost without a good understanding of their purpose and usage.
In this section, I found myself relying heavily on Google, and I wondered if some of the concepts would come more naturally if I had already encountered them in programming courses.
Some of the topics we covered included:
- Linux documentation
- file operations and systems
- read (r), write (w), and execute (x)
- What are 'executable binaries'?
- user environment su and sudo
- !! bang-bang
- text editors: with very detailed info on vi and emacs
- local security and passwords
- network operations
- ping
- the command line: often allows users to perform tasks more efficiently than the GUI
- wget
Don't worry if some of the items on this this list look foreign to you, as they will be covered in the course.
Installing Linux on my Chromebook
My main goal in taking the course was to get a better, high level understanding of Linux. I didn't have to install Linux but wanted to, so before I started chapter 7, I did. I wanted to test out some of the things I was learning, and 'learning is doing' to a large extent.
I found a Lifehacker article that looked quick and easy to follow. It instructed me on how to install Ubuntu using Crouton.
This was fairly easy, with a few hiccups along the way, which for me was just part of getting used to entering commands into the terminal and learning how to work with and utilize Linux. NetSurf was the default web browser, so I tried to install Firefox. After a few failures to launch, I realized I needed sudo!
Then I started chapter 7. The material stated: "Whether you are an inexperienced user or a veteran, you won’t always know how to use various Linux programs and utilities, or what to type at the command line." I was comforted by that as I went along, switching back and forth between the material and my Chromebook. At one point I got sucked into tweaking and customizing my new Linux setup for an hour before getting back to the material. This article helped me adjust the font and install programs like Leafpad and Audacious.
Is this a good course for non-coders?
In general this was not a course for a non-coder looking to get a better, high level understanding of Linux.
This was a course for perhaps a beginner programmer, or a seasoned programmer less familiar with Linux. Several chapters were quite detailed and specific. Overall, an underlying base knowledge of programming would have been extremely helpful. More than a basic understanding, a base understanding—like that you would get from taking at least one, full programming course in your life.
So, I think I'll revise my statement. This could be a course for a non-coder, because coding might not be your day job or your hobby, but it's a course best taken after an introduction to computer science and programming. Which I plan to take next. So, I'll take one slight step back to catch up a bit. Then, I want to launch forward again with this Linux Academy course on how to install and customize Linux as your desktop.
If you're a non-coder interested in taking this course, do it. Why not? It's free, professionally done (by the Linux Foundation), and sometimes when you jump in the deep end you learn to swim faster. I sort of went at it like I knew what was going on and what the material was talking about even when I only half understood. That helped me in two ways. For one, to some extent you need to just get through new material. You can go back, reread, and retake quizzes, but when momentum really needs to be on your side, you've got to find a way to just keep going and reach the end. Because I kept moving, too, I was able to glean some gems from the vast landscape of mostly unfamiliar information. For the things I did recognize and the few things I had done before, they made that much more sense.
Finally, whomever you are, whatever skill level, put on music that faciliates the creative mind. Ping me if you want some recommendations.
译文：
几个月前，我开始在edX（edX是麻省理工和哈佛大学于2012年4月联手创建的大规模开放在线课堂平台）上学习Linux入门课程。
这门课程一共18章节，通过大量的阅读，视频资料以及一些不定期的能力测验来巩固知识。在我的博客”What happens when a non-coder tries to learn Linux“（非码农学习
Linux）一文中我写了前6章节的内容以及如何学习这门课程。这篇文章涵盖了这门课程的前6个章节的内容，讲述了Linux的一些使用方法.
关于这门课程
这门课程提供了Linux入门的实践性的指导，讲述了一些常用的命令行。虽然这些内容不是很难理解，对有些人来说是比较陈旧的，但是
对于刚入门的学生来说，他们能很好的理解命令的用途与用法。
在这些章节中，我发现我太依赖于Google了，对于某些知识点的概念，如果我在编程课程中已经遇到过，能够更自然的理解。
以下是课程的部分知识点
- Linux文档
- 文件操作命令与文件系统
- 读（r）写（w）执行（x）
- 可执行二进制文件是什么
- 用户环境su，sudo
- !! bang-bang（不清楚）
- 文本编辑器：vi和emacs的使用介绍
- 密码与本地安全策略
- 网络命令
- ping
- 命令行，命令执行通常比GUI（图形用户界面）更高效
- wget（wget是一个从网络上自动下载文件的自由工具）
在我的Chromebook上安装Linux
我的主要目的能够对Linux有一个更高水平的理解。其实我不需要安装Linux，但是想安装一次（译者注:很好的动手意识），在开始第7章前，我还是安装了一次。
我想要实践 我正在学习的东西，学以致用。我在网上找了篇Lifehacker的关于使用Crouton安装Ubuntu的快速入门教程，
（Lifehacker：生活骇客，热 爱 技术为了生活而不断学习技术的人，geek?
)
通过教程安装Linux相当简单，基本就是在命令行上输入一些命令设置Linux。NetSurf 是默认浏览器，于是我尝试着安装一个 火狐。
(译者注：别问我为什么要安装火狐，because i love Firefox loved sinking 
)
几次安装失败之后，我“叮”的大脑顿悟，原来要用sudo来运行安装命令。
（sudo是linux系统管理指令，是 允许系统管理员让普通用户执行一些或者全部的root命令的一个工具）
安装好系统之后，我开始了第7章的学习，阅读材料上写着，无论你是菜鸟还是大神，你都不需要 记住所有的Linux系统命令。这令我欣慰，可以少死些脑细胞了。
我边看教材边摆弄我的Chromebook。由于大脑短路，在自定义Linux设置上，我僵持了一个小时，然后看书解决。
这篇文章帮我调整了字体并且帮助我安装了一些必要的应用软件。
这是一门非编程人员的课程么？
老实说，这并非是一门让非编程人员更好理解Linux的课程。
这门课程更适合作为爱好编程者的入门教程或者是对Linux不太熟悉的大神们的参考手册。很多章节都相当详细并且过于专业。
总的来说，如果有编程的基础知识对于学习相当有益 ，比如至少学习过一门编程语言。
好吧，我应该修正我上述的观点。这们课程可以适合非编程人员，编程可能并不是我们的工作或者兴趣，但是这门课程可以作为刚学了计算机科学
或者编程语言之后的后继课程。于是，我继续学习这门关于如何安装和自定义Linux桌面的Linux专业课程。
如果你是非编程人员并且对这门课程有兴趣，那么就学吧。Why not。这是免费的，由专业人员出品。
有时候，你投入的越深，学习的越快。带着几分感觉能掌握的心态继续学习，尽管我还是只字半解。
这种心态在两个方面帮助了我。一方面是，有时候你要做的就是先把知识理一遍，如果不懂，你可以在看一次， 再做些测试（题海战术），读书百遍其义自见。
但是，假如真的遇到困难，那就找方法去克服。因为我就是这么做的，于是我收获了很多。另一方面，我确实有所领悟。这让以前做的事情都变得更有意义。
总之，无论你是谁，什么水平，丰富知识以提高你的创造力。如果需要帮助，可以随时联系我。（基我，假如需要帮助）
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