 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group The path to enlightenment Tom Coleman |
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When giving a couple of talks recently to some of our members I was struck by the uncertainty of some users about command execution, the PATH, subdirectories and generally the way that their computers organise themselves.
I am not just talking about new users, either. Many of these people have owned and used a computer for quite some time. Their problems stem from being unfamiliar with the way that their computer works. They have programs that they use regularly and they do not do very much more with the computer.
Windows is very good for getting things done but is hopeless at educating the user about what it is doing. Windows is easier because it is a substitute for knowledge, like XTree or a menu.
The result is that they may be whizzes at using WordPerfect but because they do not understand the underlying principles they can only do what their software lets them. This is not enough to stop them so they carry on, not realising the gap in their knowledge until something forces them to use the command line, or to understand what they are doing. Then they get hopelessly lost.
WP whizzes they may be but they are computer nongs.
I sometimes hear the comment "I have been using my computer for three years and I still do not understand the command line." There is an implication that even after three years study there is still a lot more to be learned. If you heard the comment "I have been driving a car for three years and still cannot drive a back-hoe," you would not fall into the mistake of believing that car driving conferred back-hoe-driving skills. So you should not fall into the trap of believing that you can acquire skills you have not practised.
The most common areas of weakness about how your computer organises itself are very adequately covered in our Computer Basics courses - directories and file specifications, command execution and the PATH. None of these are very complex and a beginner has no difficulty grasping the concepts. However if you have avoided learning about them either because they were perceived as being difficult or because you let XTree or a menu filter out the knowledge, they assume an awesome and magical aura that demoralises you. You are then in the position of the primitive native who is overawed by the white man's magic cigarette lighter.
There is a wealth of knowledge in your manuals too, but it is not as well prioritised as on a course.
On the other hand you might be one of those people who never learns to change a wheel either, because they feel they have the RACV to do it for them and that's why they pay their membership. That's fair enough too, but don't leave the metropolitan area.
Some things are not intuitive. Take the directory tree for example. Most software uses a more or less similar way of illustrating it. Unfortunately their illustration looks nothing like a tree. Part of the problem in describing directories is that they have no physical counterpart or precise location. They are logical structures.
Whilst a right-brained thinker has little difficulty grasping the concept, a left-brained processor needs to think about it a little before the light comes on.
Apart from being non-intuitive there is the problem of knowing what to learn. If you do not know that a subject exists how can you know what to read about. Even if you know it exists you still need to know what is important. Is a programming language more useful than memory management? Should you learn about disaster recovery and panic disks or learn about hardware? When you don't know much about any of them it all gets to be a bit confusing.
Members of Melb PC have the advantage of being able to talk over their problems with other users and with the trainers. Also the courses that Melb PC offers are tailored to suit the needs of members. You can get a good idea of what is important by going to the Special Interest Groups and taking part.
Finally, regardless of what you want to do, you must make an effort to find out. It is an axiom of training that you do not learn by your mistakes.
You will need to live for ever to be able to make enough mistakes and you will develop a lot of bad habits and techniques as you go.
You learn by doing it right.
However you are the one who must do it. You are not going to wake up one morning having had it revealed in a dream. Sitting under a Boab tree for 30 years may lead to self realisation but it's no way to learn computing. Nor is staring at the screen.
If you are going to learn more about computing you must actively seek out what you want to know. You must make the effort to discover.
Melb PC provides and excellent facility to seek and discover.
All you need is to do it.
Have a go.
Reprinted from the November 1995 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
