CSCI 3190 (Directed Study (Unix Power Tools)), Spring 2004:
Homework 10

Assigned:

April 26, 2004.

Due:

May 5, 2004, at 5pm.

Credit:

10 points.

Reading

Read about the following topics, either by skimming the mentioned online references or in another book or reference.

1. Your class notes and/or the ones posted on the Web.

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.

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?

   • I thought for this course a collection of online readings made more sense than a textbook (assuming one even exists that covers the range of topics I wanted to address). Do you agree, or would you have preferred a textbook?

   • 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?