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, Instructor
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. |
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
- Video: Welcome to Week 1
- Reading: Introduction
- Reading: The Unix Workbench Book
- Reading: What is Unix?
- Reading: Mac & Ubuntu Users
- Reading: Windows
- Reading: Hello Terminal!
- Reading: Hello Terminal! Exercises
- Reading: Navigating the Command Line
- Reading: Navigating the Command Line Exercises
- Reading: Creation and Inspection
- Reading: Creation and Inspection Exercises
- Reading: Migration and Destruction
- 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
- Video: Welcome to Week 2
- Reading: Self-Help
- Reading: Self-Help Exercises
- Reading: Get Wild
- Reading: Get Wild Exercises
- Reading: Regular Expressions
- Reading: Metacharacters
- Reading: Character Sets
- Reading: Escaping, Anchors, Odds, and Ends
- Reading: Find
- Reading: Search Exercises
- Reading: History
- Reading: Customizing Bash
- Reading: Differentiate
- Reading: Pipes
- Reading: Pipes Exercises
- 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
- Video: Welcome to Week 3
- Reading: Math
- Reading: Math Exercises
- Reading: Variables
- Reading: Variables Exercises
- Reading: User Input
- Reading: User Input Exercise
- Reading: Conditional Execution
- Reading: Conditional Expressions
- Reading: If and Else
- Reading: Logic and If/Else Exercises
- Reading: Arrays
- Reading: Arrays Exercises
- Reading: Braces
- Reading: Braces Exercise
- Reading: for
- Reading: while
- Reading: Nesting
- Reading: Loops Exercises
- Reading: Writing Functions
- Reading: Getting Values from Functions
- Reading: Functions Exercises
- Reading: The Unix Philosophy
- Reading: Making Programs Executable
- Reading: Environmental Variables
- 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
- Video: Welcome to Week 4
- Reading: What are Git and GitHub?
- Reading: Setting Up Git and GitHub
- Reading: Getting Started with Git
- Reading: Git Exercises
- Reading: Gitting Help, Logs, and Diffs
- Reading: Ignoring Files
- Reading: Important Git Features Exercises
- Reading: Branching, Part 1
- Reading: Branching, Part 2
- Reading: Branching Exercises
- Reading: GitHub
- Reading: Markdown
- Reading: Pull Requests
- Reading: Pages
- Reading: Forking
- 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
- Reading: Introduction to Cloud Computing
- Reading: Setting Up DigitalOcean
- Reading: Connecting to the Cloud
- Reading: Moving Files In and Out of the Cloud
- Reading: Talking to Other Servers
- Reading: Automating Tasks
- Reading: Cloud Computing Exercises
- Reading: Shutting Down a Server
- Reading: Next Steps
- Reading: Giving Feedback
- Reading: Using This Book
Graded: Nephology
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