.\" @(#)learn.1 6.3 (Berkeley) %G%
learn \- computer aided instruction about UNIX
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
before and left your last session without completing a subject,
the program will use information in $HOME/.learnrc to start you up
in the same place you left off.
will ask questions to find out what you want to do.
Some questions may be bypassed by naming a
gave you in a previous session.
If you do not know the lesson number,
will look for the first lesson containing it.
this is useful for debugging.
There are a few special commands.
The command `bye' terminates a
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
to tell you the answers it expects in English, however,
the command `hint' prints the last part of the lesson script
used to evaluate a response, while `hint m' prints the
This is useful for debugging
lessons and might possibly give you an idea about what it expects.
Normally, lesson scripts are found in the directory /usr/lib/learn.
option allows one to specify a nonstandard place to look for scripts.
/usr/lib/learn subtree for all dependent directories and files
/usr/tmp/pl\(** playpen directories
$HOME/.learnrc startup information
B. W. Kernighan and M. E. Lesk, \fILEARN \- Computer-Aided Instruction on UNIX\fR
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
Occasionally lessons are incorrect, sometimes because the local version
of a command operates in a non-standard way.
Occasionally a lesson script does not recognize all the different
correct responses, in which case the `hint' command may be useful.
Such lessons may be skipped with the `skip' command,
but it takes some sophistication to recognize the situation.
It is unclear whether this sort
of subject indexing is better than none.
Spawning a new shell is required for each of many
user and internal functions.
The `vi' lessons are provided separately from the others.
To use them see your system administrator.