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Learner Reviews & Feedback for The Unix Workbench by Johns Hopkins University

4.7
stars
1,335 ratings

About the Course

Unix forms a foundation that is often very helpful for accomplishing other goals you might have for you and your computer, whether that goal is running a business, writing a book, curing disease, or creating the next great app. The means to these goals are sometimes carried out by writing software. Software can’t be mined out of the ground, nor can software seeds be planted in spring to harvest by autumn. Software isn’t produced in factories on an assembly line. Software is a hand-made, often bespoke good. If a software developer is an artisan, then Unix is their workbench. Unix provides an essential and simple set of tools in a distraction-free environment. Even if you’re not a software developer learning Unix can open you up to new methods of thinking and novel ways to scale your ideas. This course is intended for folks who are new to programming and new to Unix-like operating systems like macOS and Linux distributions like Ubuntu. Most of the technologies discussed in this course will be accessed via a command line interface. Command line interfaces can seem alien at first, so this course attempts to draw parallels between using the command line and actions that you would normally take while using your mouse and keyboard. You’ll also learn how to write little pieces of software in a programming language called Bash, which allows you to connect together the tools we’ll discuss. My hope is that by the end of this course you be able to use different Unix tools as if they’re interconnecting Lego bricks....

Top reviews

SM

May 24, 2022

This course is extremly helpful and well designed for beginnner and working professionals with neat info. I strongly recomended this course. Thanks for mentors/authors with real time example commands.

RW

Apr 29, 2020

This is a very friendly step-by-step guide to Unix for beginners, it helps to build a solid foundation, and the exercises are designed to explore more about what has been introduced in the course.

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301 - 325 of 400 Reviews for The Unix Workbench

By David H

•

Nov 27, 2018

Good stuff.

By arin w

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Oct 28, 2017

interesting

By Yamil P

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Apr 15, 2021

excellent!

By Patricio R

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Jul 15, 2019

Nice book.

By Jorge N

•

Aug 27, 2018

Very good!

By Shridhara

•

Sep 5, 2020

Completed

By Ajeet P

•

Feb 15, 2018

Excellent

By LIS A M G

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Jun 18, 2020

excelent

By PATEL H K

•

Oct 20, 2019

Good one

By Anurag P

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Sep 3, 2019

Awesome.

By Georgy G

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Jun 16, 2018

Not bad.

By Matan N

•

Apr 14, 2018

great !!

By Djordje M

•

Jun 15, 2021

Super!

By hurui

•

Nov 5, 2018

Great!

By Dominic

•

Jul 27, 2022

Great

By Advay i

•

Apr 26, 2021

great

By Maddi A 1

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Jun 4, 2020

goood

By EL M O

•

Nov 24, 2024

good

By NOUSAIRE B

•

Nov 20, 2024

GOOD

By Catherine T

•

Aug 17, 2021

good

By ORIOLI A

•

Dec 9, 2020

Good

By Duthi S

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Oct 10, 2020

Good

By Carlos F M M

•

Dec 3, 2019

Nice

By Gregory D H

•

Jun 4, 2018

This is a a gentle introduction to the Unix command line environment covering the fundamental skills upon learners can build. For anyone considering taking the Genomic Data Science Specialization courses and not familiar with the Unix command line environment, "The Unix Workbench" is a good foundation. The inclusion of version control (git and repositories - both local and remote) plus cloud computing as remote development and deployment environments shows practical real world usage of command line skills.

I deducted one star solely based on the written narrative. While correct in its content the presentation was dry, in my opinion, if the target audience is novices or those with very limited exposure to the Unix command line. I am not a command line novice so maybe my critique is not shared by those in the target audience. Why did I take this course? The courses by instructors affiliated with Johns Hopkins University are consistently informative, practical, and enjoyable. It never hurts to refresh basic skills regardless of where we might be along the spectrum from novice to expert; I learn something each time. "The Unix Workbench" is a good addition to JHU's contribution to democratising education.

By Alexis L P

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Nov 26, 2022

This is a great refresher course if you haven't used bash in a while. I'd rate this course as slightly above beginner; if you're entirely green to the command line, programming, bash I think you're likely to move slowly or get frustrated since there are no solutions to the assignments, and explanations are taken for granted for more elementary parts of bash and the command line. (The author has made his book available online for free, though, which will help.) The first few weeks are great and not only refreshed my knowledge but I discovered new options/flags for commands I thought I knew. The last few weeks are outdated and a bit of a disappointment with many typos and having to pay Digital Ocean to spin up a droplet (it is not free as the course says). However, for a course I didn't have to pay for (because of the NY Dept. of Labor) it was perfect.