Book Image

The Software Developer's Guide to Linux

By : David Cohen, Christian Sturm
5 (2)
Book Image

The Software Developer's Guide to Linux

5 (2)
By: David Cohen, Christian Sturm

Overview of this book

Developers are always looking to raise their game to the next level, yet most are completely lost when it comes to the Linux command line. This book is the bridge that will take you to the next level in your software development career. Most of the skills in the book can be immediately put to work to make you a more efficient developer. It’s written specifically for software engineers, not Linux system administrators, so each chapter will equip you with just enough theory to understand what you’re doing before diving into practical commands that you can use in your day-to-day work as a software developer. As you work through the book, you’ll quickly absorb the basics of how Linux works while you get comfortable moving around the command line. Once you’ve got the core skills, you’ll see how to apply them in different contexts that you’ll come across as a software developer: building and working with Docker images, automating boring build tasks with shell scripts, and troubleshooting issues in production environments. By the end of the book, you’ll be able to use Linux and the command line comfortably and apply your newfound skills in your day-to-day work to save time, troubleshoot issues, and be the command-line wizard that your team turns to.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
18
Other Books You May Enjoy
19
Index

Conclusion

In this chapter, you learned how to edit text files on the command line. First, we introduced the easiest way to get started (nano), and then we showed you how to start graduating to a skillset that will pay dividends for the duration of your career: vi/vim and their keybindings, which you’ll find supported in an incredibly wide variety of software.

Use the cheat sheets in this chapter to get started with command-line editing, but know that after a day or two of practice, you’ll be ready to learn additional shortcuts and commands in vim. That’s best done through a combination of vimtutor, online cheat sheets, and YouTube videos. We also really like the book Practical Vim, 2nd Edition, by Drew Neil.

Becoming comfortable with command-line text editing is one of the surest ways to look and feel like a professional when you’re working. Don’t neglect this skillset!

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