The Unix Workbench

About this course: Unix forms a foundation that is often very helpful for accomplishing other goals you might have for you and your computer, whether that goal is running a business, writing a book, curing disease, or creating the next great app. The means to these goals are sometimes carried out by writing software. Software can’t be mined out of the ground, nor can software seeds be planted in spring to harvest by autumn. Software isn’t produced in factories on an assembly line. Software is a hand-made, often bespoke good. If a software developer is an artisan, then Unix is their workbench. Unix provides an essential and simple set of tools in a distraction-free environment. Even if you’re not a software developer learning Unix can open you up to new methods of thinking and novel ways to scale your ideas. This course is intended for folks who are new to programming and new to Unix-like operating systems like macOS and Linux distributions like Ubuntu. Most of the technologies discussed in this course will be accessed via a command line interface. Command line interfaces can seem alien at first, so this course attempts to draw parallels between using the command line and actions that you would normally take while using your mouse and keyboard. You’ll also learn how to write little pieces of software in a programming language called Bash, which allows you to connect together the tools we’ll discuss. My hope is that by the end of this course you be able to use different Unix tools as if they’re interconnecting Lego bricks.

Who is this class for: This course is for people in who want to use the command line, Bash, and Git for data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

Created by:  Johns Hopkins University

• Taught by:  Sean Kross, Department of Biostatistics

  Bloomberg School of Public Health

• Taught by:  Jeff Leek, PhD, Associate Professor, Biostatistics

  Bloomberg School of Public Health

• Taught by:  Brian Caffo, PhD, Professor, Biostatistics

  Bloomberg School of Public Health

• Taught by:  Roger D. Peng, PhD, Associate Professor, Biostatistics

  Bloomberg School of Public Health

Level Beginner Commitment 4 weeks, 4 hours per week Language English How To Pass Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. User Ratings 4.6 stars Average User Rating 4.6See what learners said Coursework

Each course is like an interactive textbook, featuring pre-recorded videos, quizzes and projects.

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Syllabus


WEEK 1


Unix and Command Line Basics
This week we'll help you get access to Unix (you may already be using it), and you'll start using the command line. We'll draw parallels between using your mouse and keyboard with your computer's graphics versus only using the command line.


1 video, 13 readings expand

1. Video: Welcome to Week 1
2. Reading: Introduction
3. Reading: The Unix Workbench Book
4. Reading: What is Unix?
5. Reading: Mac & Ubuntu Users
6. Reading: Windows
7. Reading: Hello Terminal!
8. Reading: Hello Terminal! Exercises
9. Reading: Navigating the Command Line
10. Reading: Navigating the Command Line Exercises
11. Reading: Creation and Inspection
12. Reading: Creation and Inspection Exercises
13. Reading: Migration and Destruction
14. Reading: Migration and Destruction Exercises

Graded: Command Line Basics

WEEK 2


Working with Unix
Now we'll get into the power of different Unix tools. We'll walk through several scenarios where you could use Unix to perform tasks at a much faster speed than you would be able to normally.


1 video, 16 readings expand

1. Video: Welcome to Week 2
2. Reading: Self-Help
3. Reading: Self-Help Exercises
4. Reading: Get Wild
5. Reading: Get Wild Exercises
6. Reading: Regular Expressions
7. Reading: Metacharacters
8. Reading: Character Sets
9. Reading: Escaping, Anchors, Odds, and Ends
10. Reading: Find
11. Reading: Search Exercises
12. Reading: History
13. Reading: Customizing Bash
14. Reading: Differentiate
15. Reading: Pipes
16. Reading: Pipes Exercises
17. Reading: Make

Graded: Working with Unix

WEEK 3


Bash Programming
During this week we'll unleash the command line's usefulness as a programming language. By the end of this week you'll be writing your own little computer programs that you can use on the command line.


1 video, 25 readings expand

1. Video: Welcome to Week 3
2. Reading: Math
3. Reading: Math Exercises
4. Reading: Variables
5. Reading: Variables Exercises
6. Reading: User Input
7. Reading: User Input Exercise
8. Reading: Conditional Execution
9. Reading: Conditional Expressions
10. Reading: If and Else
11. Reading: Logic and If/Else Exercises
12. Reading: Arrays
13. Reading: Arrays Exercises
14. Reading: Braces
15. Reading: Braces Exercise
16. Reading: for
17. Reading: while
18. Reading: Nesting
19. Reading: Loops Exercises
20. Reading: Writing Functions
21. Reading: Getting Values from Functions
22. Reading: Functions Exercises
23. Reading: The Unix Philosophy
24. Reading: Making Programs Executable
25. Reading: Environmental Variables
26. Reading: Writing Programs Exercises

Graded: Bash Programming

WEEK 4


Git and GitHub
First you'll learn how to use Git, which is like "track changes" for your code and plain text files, but much more powerful. We'll then explore how to use Git with GitHub, a social coding network where you can publish you projects and explore other's code.


1 video, 16 readings expand

1. Video: Welcome to Week 4
2. Reading: What are Git and GitHub?
3. Reading: Setting Up Git and GitHub
4. Reading: Getting Started with Git
5. Reading: Git Exercises
6. Reading: Gitting Help, Logs, and Diffs
7. Reading: Ignoring Files
8. Reading: Important Git Features Exercises
9. Reading: Branching, Part 1
10. Reading: Branching, Part 2
11. Reading: Branching Exercises
12. Reading: GitHub
13. Reading: Markdown
14. Reading: Pull Requests
15. Reading: Pages
16. Reading: Forking
17. Reading: GitHub Exercises

Graded: Git & GitHub
Graded: Bash, Make, Git, and GitHub

Nephology
Finally we'll set up a cloud computing environment so we can explore how computers communicate with each other using the internet.


11 readings expand

1. Reading: Introduction to Cloud Computing
2. Reading: Setting Up DigitalOcean
3. Reading: Connecting to the Cloud
4. Reading: Moving Files In and Out of the Cloud
5. Reading: Talking to Other Servers
6. Reading: Automating Tasks
7. Reading: Cloud Computing Exercises
8. Reading: Shutting Down a Server
9. Reading: Next Steps
10. Reading: Giving Feedback
11. Reading: Using This Book

Graded: Nephology