Take Control of the Mac Command Line with Terminal, 2nd Edition

Introduction

Back when I began using computers, in the early 1980s, user interfaces were pretty primitive. A computer usually came with only a keyboard for input—mice were a novelty that hadn’t caught on yet. To get your computer to do something, you typed a command, waited for some result, and then typed another command. There simply was no concept of pointing and clicking to make things happen.

When I finally switched from DOS to the Mac (without ever going through a Windows phase, I should mention!), I was thrilled that I could do my work without having to memorize lists of commands, consult manuals constantly, or guess at how to accomplish something. Everything was right there on the screen, just a click away. It was simpler—not in the sense ...