[Tutor] command line
Erik Price
erikprice@mac.com
Wed, 3 Apr 2002 07:23:11 -0500
On Monday, April 1, 2002, at 11:23 PM, Kirby Urner wrote:
> By the way, I've been meaning to promote what I consider an
> excellent background essay on all this: 'In the Beginning Was
> the Command Line' by Neal Stephenson, a good writer. He
> covers a lot of recent history, and without obnoxiously
> getting on a narrow-perspective soap box.
Almost three years ago to the day, I first read this essay. I was in my
second-to-last year of my undergrad, with the grades and ambition to
head off to graduate school to pursue my quest of being a professional
student (cultural studies) for the rest of my life. Although I had used
computers all my life, I didn't really know anything about them.
Infectious, that essay took root in my mind and didn't let go -- because
of that essay, I never ended up going to grad school, I started learning
Linux, and decided I wanted to become a web developer.
There are few objects in our lives that we can point to and say "this
had a profound and life-changing effect on me", but for me that essay is
one of them.
Erik