Linux

Xeelee , in Every Linux Geek Needs to Know Sed and Awk. Here’s Why… - The Tech Edvocate
@Xeelee@kbin.social avatar

I'll probably need a few more lines in Python, but I can do everything i want and don't have to deal with the cryptic syntax. I once had to use awk because some extra pigheaded sysadmin refused to install Python on an AIX machine. Glad i don't work there any more.

tal ,
@tal@kbin.social avatar

Python isn't really a fantastic drop-in replacement for them, IMHO, though there is some overlap.

There are a bunch of Unix tools that let one concisely put a lot of logic into a single command line. They lower the bar to throwing a lot of logic into that single line.

Python's whitespace-sensitive and requires newlines. I guess theoretically you could use a HEREDOC or something, but realistically, if you use Python, you're going to go author a throwaway script and then execute it, which raises the bar to just including it in your command lines.

I think that Perl is probably closer to a middle ground between "application-oriented programming languages" and "single command line use". I think that it'd be reasonable to simply use perl -pie as an alternative to awk especially, though having sed's conciseness is still nice.

Auster , in Tips for a new Linux user

One thing I suggest is:
You're trying to get something working but it isn't going anywhere? Try again later.

First, because of the obvious calming down, since stress can affect the person's capacity to solve problems.
Second, I've noticed how many things on Linux have some degree of similarity and/or relation to one another. So trying other things in the meantime can give you the needed insight for solving a previous problem.

Mawkey OP ,

Good advice to be honest. Luckily I have a lot of patience so I think I should be fine in the end.

Slartibartfast ,

And don't skip over reading things! I also run Arch with KDE and honestly with almost all problems I have, if I carefully read through either the Arch Wiki (this will probably be your most valuable tool) or the error message that comes up, the answer is usually in there somewhere, it just needs digging up.

Also: if something with a GUI crashes and doesn't give an error message, try running it in the terminal. So like, if Firefox crashes and doesn't give any info, try opening up a terminal and running firefox from there and the terminal will tell you everything that's going on. (It'll be a different command if you're using a flatpak but that's the general idea.)

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