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Learner Reviews & Feedback for The Unix Workbench by Johns Hopkins University

4.7
stars
1,320 ratings

About the 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....

Top reviews

SM

May 24, 2022

This course is extremly helpful and well designed for beginnner and working professionals with neat info. I strongly recomended this course. Thanks for mentors/authors with real time example commands.

RW

Apr 29, 2020

This is a very friendly step-by-step guide to Unix for beginners, it helps to build a solid foundation, and the exercises are designed to explore more about what has been introduced in the course.

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26 - 50 of 397 Reviews for The Unix Workbench

By Ben W

Feb 23, 2021

This is an excellent introduction to Unix, the command line, and tools like GitHub. I found that to get the most out of the course it requires more time than 4 hrs per week. It is a worthwhile course, and I recommend it for anyone interesting in strengthening their knowledge of Unix tools required for software development. This course helps to build foundational knowledge that is broadly useful for modern computing.

By Adam E

Mar 30, 2019

I've been searching for good introductory courses into Unix for over a year now - and finally, I found something with the right amount of challenge and pace that could be achieved within a month's time. Thank you to Sean Kross and the team that developed this course! I'll be paying attention to this space and I now feel I have a better foundational understanding of the ethos behind Unix workflows...

By Jeff J

Apr 24, 2020

Nice course on Unix and unstanding the bash shell. This course has an approachable structure, but also provides enough challenge to spur the learning process. The sections on GitHub are quite useful, while everything is cleverly tied together on the final project. A good refresher for people with some programming or a nice intro if just getting started. Everyone should take this course.

By Kamil S

Feb 21, 2020

Really good course. For me it bridges the "old" tech of Unix, and really turns it into a workbench.. Something to be used creatively and with support of modern tools git/GitHub etc. Nephology is a great take on Cloud computing, and although not very much in depth, if anything it allows for a lot of exploration to be done at your own pace! Thank you to the creators of this course!

By Anna C M

Feb 23, 2021

Really very good course! It provides a solid foundation of the command line, bash programming, git and github. Very well organized, explained, clear instructions, and the hands-on exercises allow to apply the theory and build your skill set. And among all exercises, the final project was the main source of learning, the one I most liked! Thank you!

By Ajay S

Jan 28, 2019

Really a Great course for learning unix . Learn a lot in the unix enviroment . Thanks Johns Hopkins University for this course , student like me who can not afford and pay for education in the top reputed university . Thanks coursera for providing such a platform for the needy students. thanks for the financial aid for the course.

THANKS AJAY

By Harsh T

May 24, 2020

This course is a perfect way to start learning unix from scratch,

its consist of majorly reading part which I really prefer over video lectures as you get to use your own thinking and visualization in order to learn things. Also the exercises given in every week is challenging, helping us to push ourselves in order to do self learning.

By HIDER B V C

Sep 23, 2020

before i star this course i use to be afraid of manage a computer via command lines and now , thacks to this book i learned the real poential of an computer and learned a lot of others thing that i dont expected understand so early , especially the last chapters that let see the posibbilities to explore after complete the course

By Mitchell E

Jan 24, 2019

The course literature was fairly easy to understand and was structured in a logical way to build up skills. The videos introducing the lecture were a little bit off-putting, I think Sean should try to read from the side of the camera less as otherwise you can't concentrate on what he is saying. The exercises were challenging.

By Adam D

Aug 7, 2020

This course is well paced and documented. The practical examples and hands-on exercises ensure that the knowledge is retained. I'm more excited about digging deeper into Unix than ever before. I would immediately enroll in related courses if made available on Coursera. Many thanks to the team that created this course!!

By 陳俊廷

Mar 21, 2020

It is a really useful course that you can understand and use unix.

Actually, you can pass git to fork or write you unique code to share with other people.

I think if you want to understand unix or you want to have the skill on it, you never ignore this course.

Thanks very much for teacher and lots of classmates in the class!

By Markella M

Dec 14, 2020

Very interesting course! It does a good job covering the essentials of UNIX. I have been using UNIX for a while now, but I still had some 'gaps' in my understanding of what certain commands meant and in what ways they could be used. This course gave me a better foundation from which to continue practicing and learning.

By Lilia H

Apr 9, 2020

The course is very good for starters that have no previous knowledge about unix. I liked it very much, the individual chapters are short enough to keep you motivated and if you are willing and take your time you really learn a lot here. Of course you should nevertheless keep in mind that google is your best friend.

By Christina C

Oct 29, 2019

Excellent course! I am a molecular geneticist and as a beginner in this field, I found this course to be very helpful in establishing a good foundation in bash scripting. This is definitely a starting point for me to pursue my dream to become a bioinformatician. Looking forward to learn more from coursera.

By Leo W

Jan 16, 2021

This is a great intro/refresher course to Unix. I used Unix literally decades ago and then got caught up in a Windows career. I finally decided to rediscover Unixand this course really opened up my eyes into how versatile and, frankly, easy Unix to understand. I'm no longer afraid of it.

By Bruno M C Q

Sep 3, 2018

It was a great introductory course, which has helped me in my current work environment. That being said i felt that the last part regarding cloud computing was a bit rushed (from learning to sue a API to suddenly being asked to create a bot)

Overall i recommend the course to any colleague

By Manuel X D

Jan 20, 2020

The title and syllabus of this course reflect accurately its content. The progression from week 1 to 4 is steady and allows one to gain the skill set required to complete the project. Highly recommended to anyone interested in pursuing the study of any branch of data science.

By Angel S C C

Sep 24, 2020

Excelente curso, recomendado para aquellos interesados en las tecnologias de la informacion, programacion, datos. Brinda buenas herramientas para el manejo de datos y la ejecucion de programas rutinarios. Apto para Windows bajo el terminal de linux, linux propiamente y mac.

By NB

May 2, 2020

I thought the course was very well organized and easy to follow with lots of good resources provided as an external link. I especially liked that it was divided into short-enough sections that I could squeeze in one section here and there when I found time to sit down.

By Miguel M G

Jan 5, 2019

This is a very good course. The contents are very organised and understandable. It would have been great some more videos and a little less text; the course is mostly based on reading materials. However, the quality of the text is quite good so I could not complaint.

By Tracy N

Sep 28, 2017

Excellent introduction to Unix shell programming. The coverage of regular expressions, git, and remote server access was better than I expected from an introductory class. Highly recommended, and I also recommend the companion book as a reference and learning aid.

By Avinash. S

Aug 7, 2020

This is an Excellent course and i recommend this for those who have zero prior knowledge in unix and a afraid to start and think Unix is something which is not for them.

Enroll to this course and start learning, I will assure you that you will start loving Unix.

By Luis T

Feb 5, 2020

El curso es excelente, sin duda alguna, aprendes lo básico sobre los comandos de consola, git, github, un poco de como funciona la nube, los ejemplos son buenos, pero podrían ser más profundos al igual que los ejercicios. Excelente curso para iniciar en Unix.

By Vaibhav G

Aug 31, 2020

The course is simple and effective, it teaches everything that you need to get started with Linux and if you wanna learn more, mentor will give alot of guidance as well as challenges so you can test yourself. i really enjoyed the conversation with mentor.

By Miguel R

Nov 12, 2019

Very useful, practical, motivational and inspiring course. It is notorious Mr. Sean Kross make the book with all the intention to share knowledge with people in a wonderful way. I feel impressed. Thank you to the team, to Coursera and to Mr. Sean Kross.