Required Reading

I refuse to assign text books for my courses, which is likely something I should discuss at some point–the cost, the unethical practices of the industry producing them, the issues of copyright, but most importantly, the fact that they can’t possibly keep up with how fast and frequently I need to alter my heading as I go.

There is one topic that I’d love to see all my students come in knowing, however: the proper use of Unix command line tools for text manipulation.  Today I stumbled on a great little guide, and I’d recommend you read it, then read it again.  I couldn’t function without this knowledge, and believe me when I tell you that without it, you’re not as powerful as you might, and should be.