Linked by Richard Wareham on Mon 8th Mar 2004 20:49 UTC
This essay describes the surprising results of a brief trial with a group of new computer users about the relative ease of the command line interface versus the GUIs now omnipresent in computer interfaces. It comes from practical experience I have of teaching computing to complete beginners or newbies as computer power-users often term them.
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I'd give my opinions about the article, but for some strange reason I couldn't finish it due to a sudden urge to go make a cup of tea. :-)
I have often wondered if it may be true that the command line is a better place to start. Even as early as elementary school myself and my friends were learning a great deal about what was REALLY going on with the computer by interacting with the command prompt. Now, the complexity has increased to such immense levels that the safe sandbox to play and learn in just doesn't exist.