[unix-history] / usr / man / man1 / learn.1

.TH LEARN 1 "26 April 1983"
.SH NAME
learn \- computer aided instruction about UNIX
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B learn
[
.BR \- directory
]
[ subject [ lesson ] ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Learn
gives Computer Aided Instruction courses and
practice in the use of UNIX, the C Shell,
and the Berkeley text editors.
To get started simply type
.BR learn .
The program will ask questions to find out what
you want to do.
Some questions may be bypassed by naming a
.IR subject ,
and more yet by naming a
.IR lesson .
You may enter the
.I lesson
as a number that
.I learn
gave you in a previous session.
If you do not know the lesson number,
you may enter the
.I lesson
as a word, and
.I learn
will look for the first lesson containing it.
If the
.I lesson
is `\fB\-\fP',
.I learn
prompts for each lesson;
this is useful for debugging.
.PP
The
.IR subject \|'s
presently handled are
.if n .sp 1v
.if t .sp .5v
.nf
           files
           editor
           vi
           morefiles
           macros
           eqn
           C
.fi
.PP
There are a few special commands.
The command `bye' terminates a 
.I learn
session and `where' tells you of your progress,
with `where\0m' telling you more.
The command `again' re-displays the text of the lesson
and `again\0\fIlesson\fP' lets you review
.IR lesson .
.PP
The
.BI \- directory
option allows one to exercise a script in
a nonstandard place.
.SH FILES
.nf
/usr/lib/learn	subtree for all dependent directories and files
/usr/tmp/pl\(**	playpen directories
.SH SEE ALSO
csh(1), ex(1)
.SH BUGS
The main strength of
.I learn,
that it asks the student to use the real UNIX,
also makes possible baffling mistakes.
It is helpful, especially for nonprogrammers,
to have a UNIX initiate near at hand during the first
sessions.
.PP
Occasionally lessons are incorrect, sometimes because the local version
of a command operates in a non-standard way.
Such lessons may be skipped with the `skip' command,
but it takes some sophistication to recognize
the situation.
.PP
To find a
.I lesson
given as a word,
.I learn
does a simple
.IR fgrep (1)
through the lessons.
It is unclear whether this sort
of subject indexing is better than none.
.PP
Spawning a new shell is required for each of many
user and internal functions.
Commit	Line	Data
0aa33efc C	1	.TH LEARN 1 "26 April 1983"
	2	.SH NAME
	3	learn \- computer aided instruction about UNIX
	4	.SH SYNOPSIS
	5	.B learn
	6	[
	7	.BR \- directory
	8	]
	9	[ subject [ lesson ] ]
	10	.SH DESCRIPTION
	11	.I Learn
	12	gives Computer Aided Instruction courses and
	13	practice in the use of UNIX, the C Shell,
	14	and the Berkeley text editors.
	15	To get started simply type
	16	.BR learn .
	17	The program will ask questions to find out what
	18	you want to do.
	19	Some questions may be bypassed by naming a
	20	.IR subject ,
	21	and more yet by naming a
	22	.IR lesson .
	23	You may enter the
	24	.I lesson
	25	as a number that
	26	.I learn
	27	gave you in a previous session.
	28	If you do not know the lesson number,
	29	you may enter the
	30	.I lesson
	31	as a word, and
	32	.I learn
	33	will look for the first lesson containing it.
	34	If the
	35	.I lesson
	36	is `\fB\-\fP',
	37	.I learn
	38	prompts for each lesson;
	39	this is useful for debugging.
	40	.PP
	41	The
	42	.IR subject \\|'s
	43	presently handled are
	44	.if n .sp 1v
	45	.if t .sp .5v
	46	.nf
	47	files
	48	editor
	49	vi
	50	morefiles
	51	macros
	52	eqn
	53	C
	54	.fi
	55	.PP
	56	There are a few special commands.
	57	The command `bye' terminates a
	58	.I learn
	59	session and `where' tells you of your progress,
	60	with `where\0m' telling you more.
	61	The command `again' re-displays the text of the lesson
	62	and `again\0\fIlesson\fP' lets you review
	63	.IR lesson .
	64	.PP
65	The
66	.BI \- directory
67	option allows one to exercise a script in
68	a nonstandard place.
69	.SH FILES
70	.nf
71	/usr/lib/learn subtree for all dependent directories and files
72	/usr/tmp/pl\(** playpen directories
73	.SH SEE ALSO
74	csh(1), ex(1)
75	.SH BUGS
76	The main strength of
77	.I learn,
78	that it asks the student to use the real UNIX,
79	also makes possible baffling mistakes.
80	It is helpful, especially for nonprogrammers,
81	to have a UNIX initiate near at hand during the first
82	sessions.
83	.PP
84	Occasionally lessons are incorrect, sometimes because the local version
85	of a command operates in a non-standard way.
86	Such lessons may be skipped with the `skip' command,
87	but it takes some sophistication to recognize
88	the situation.
89	.PP
90	To find a
91	.I lesson
92	given as a word,
93	.I learn
94	does a simple
95	.IR fgrep (1)
96	through the lessons.
97	It is unclear whether this sort
98	of subject indexing is better than none.
99	.PP
100	Spawning a new shell is required for each of many
101	user and internal functions.