Rant in Favor of Unix

I know that many people, especially the folks clinging to Mac OS 9, are not fond of, or particularly interested in learning to use, the Unix layer of Mac OS X. Unix is not pretty, but it is powerful. It’s baroque, but it’s incredibly well-designed. It’s not intuitive, but once you know it, it’s far faster than the GUI for many tasks.

You may as well get used to it, Unix is a part of your life if you stay with the Mac. If you can get past your initial phobia, and treat it as something exciting to explore, a new thing to learn, an opportunity to be an expert, you will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine (to steal a quotation). Neal Stephenson’s article, In the Beginning was the Command Line, is a fun look at this concept.

Personally, I love the command line, though I wish I was more expert. I get by pretty well, but seek to achieve guru status in the next two years.