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A simple command line tutor application that aims to introduce users to the
basics of command line interaction.
Web version is available at https://clitutor.chistole.ch
Usage:
cli-tutor [flags]
cli-tutor [command]
Available Commands:
completion Generate the autocompletion script for the specified shell
help Help about any command
info Prints information about the tool
repo Prints a url to the git repository for this tool
version Print the version number of cli-tutor
Flags:
-h, --help help for cli-tutor
-x, --no-welcome Do not show welcome message when entering tutor
Use "cli-tutor [command] --help" for more information about a command.
Despite the arguably dated appearance, difficult learning curve and practical
non-existence in the general personal computing space, Command Line Interfaces
(CLIs) have more than stood the test of time in the software development world.
There are a multitude of extremely popular tools and applications that
primarily focus on the command line as an interaction medium. Some examples
include version control software like git, compilers and interpreters for
programming languages, package managers and various core utilities that are
popular in areas such as software development, scripting and system
administration.
As mentioned before, the use of the command line as an interaction paradigm has effectively disappeared from a mainstream personal computer usage perspective. This contributes greatly to the intimidation factor and learning difficulty for those interested in getting into software engineering or system administration. This unfamiliarity, paired with the inevitability of usage of CLIs in the development space highlights a need to make the command line more accessible to new users for whom text-based interaction with their computer is an alien concept. In recent years, interactive learning aides utilising tools such as sandboxed environments have been gaining in popularity and have the potential to be a suitable medium for learning command line basics through actual usage, examples and practice.
This tool aims to determine whether an interactive learning method may ease
the introduction into command line interfaces for novice users, particularly
mitigating the 'scare factor' experienced by first-time users. We do so by
creating a forgiving CLI with the goal of teaching topics such as shell
scripting basics and Unix-like core utility usage through the use of
interactive examples. We draw inspiration from the vimtutor utility shipping
alongside the popular terminal based text editor Vim. The proposed tool shall
allow for opt-in analytics that are sent back to a data collection service for
the purpose of learning which mistakes are most commonly made, and to improve
the tool accordingly. To validate the tool and answer our research questions, a
user study will be conducted, most likely with bachelor students at The
University of Zurich. A secondary goal is to embed the learning tool into a
prototypical web application in order to make it more accessible and portable.
To simply try out the tool in a safe containerised environment visit:
Clone this repository using:
git clone https://gitlab.com/qasimwarraich/cli-tutor
Change directory into the freshly cloned repo.
cd cli-tutor
Once you have cloned and changed directories into the freshly cloned repository you have three methods to choose from:
Prerequisites:
- go v1.18 or higher
- Podman
- make (optional)
Instructions:
Option 1: Pull down the image from Github Container Registry
podman pull ghcr.io/qasimwarraich/cli-tutor:latest
Note: You can run the container using:
podman run -it qasimwarraich/cli-tutor
Option 2: Building image without make
podman build -t qasimwarraich/cli-tutor .
Note: You can run the container using:
podman run -it qasimwarraich/cli-tutor
Option 3: Building image with make
make docker
Note: You can run the container using:
make dockerrun
* Installation via the Podman method allows the tool to be tested in a safe containerised environment. This mitigates risk of accidentally modifying files on your personal machine like in the uncontainerised methods that follow.
Prerequisites:
- go v1.18 or higher
- make
Instructions:
Option 1: Simply run tool without installing:
make
Option 2: Just build the binary:
make build
This creates a /bin folder in the root of the repository containing the binary. You can run it by entering:
./bin/cli-tutor
Note: In order to clean this up, you can use the make clean command.
Option 3: Actually install the binary:
sudo make install
Note: In order to uninstall this from your system use the sudo make uninstall command.
Prerequisites:
- go v1.18 or higher
- make (optional)
Instructions:
Option 1: Simply run tool without installing:
go run main.go
Option 2: Actually install the binary:
go install main.go
Option 3: Using make:
To just run the tool without installing:
make
To actually install the binary
make goinstall
Note: In order to uninstall the tool you will need to delete it from your bin
folder located under the $GOPATH. This is usually located in your home
directory at ~/go/bin/
e.g. rm ~/go/bin/cli-tutor or make gouninstall
Once installed or inside the container the tool can be started using
cli-tutor.
Once you are in the tutor you are presented with a menu where you can select a
lesson using the enter key. This menu may be navigated using the arrow keys
or j/k for up and down respectively. To list available actions enter the ? key.
Once you pick a lesson you will be dropped into an interactive shell. Each lesson
contains a series of prompts that aim to teach you about the topic at hand. Tasks
can be navigated between using typing next/prev or n/p and hitting enter.
Some task may require you to issue commands and the tutor will try to validate your
inputs. These commands cannot be skipped using next or n. Additionally, each
lesson has a certain list of available commands for the user to enter. A list of
available commands is available by typing commands and hitting enter.
Have Fun!