When I think about coding I always thought I was not smart enough to do it. I was, and still am bad at math and didn't really like it. Coding felt like its bigger, meaner older brother. I think it was still in elementary school, maybe high school already. We had this computer science course where we had to program in Visual Basic, which is this coding language for making microsoft excel marcros. I still think this experience kind of ruined my first interest in coding. I remember sitting in coding class and thinking why am I doing this, why would I ever need this again. What even is Excel... At that age I wasn't yet surfing on the web so much, but it was in the years before big platform internet established itself. So still kinda web1-ish. If I think about it from today's perspective being able to learn html and a bit of css, which feels to me more like describing an image in your head than coding, could have been so nice. But well nevermind, with a few detours I got to this point anyways. Now being decent in writing html and css I feel like there is one last obstacle from my past holding me back. I am so scared of the command line. It feels like this direct, high stakes interface to the computer. Make an error and your pc is broken. In moments like these i always remember my mom scolding me for being curious on our old Windows XP Computer. When she saw me opening folders that she was not familiar with, there always was the fear of breaking this mysterious machine. Ironically I happend to become the person that would always fix our computers. But still, this fear lingers. The command line being the last frontier with no safety-net such as a graphical user interface. Direct Access, Dire Consequences. Still I want to overcome this fear. Because I know there are so many exiting and useful things to do. It was the same with HTML. I am not too stupid to code. I am not too dumb to use the command line.
My first impulse is to watch some tutorials that teach what the commandline is and how it works. I don't really get an answer. It feels like I am clicking through content-mills. I decide to just open the Shell in which the commandline is used. What is the worst that can happen. I used it a few times before. I can do this.
As I write this single word and send it off I know that help will come. As for so many people before me will the programm take my by the hand and help me to understand how it works.
Type HELP "COMMAND NAME" for more information about a specific command. I am free to ask for more.
I know this one, because I used it before. With it, I can change the directory. The last time that I used the command line was to render 3D graphics without the graphics user interface. But using it was always so stressful. The first time I used it I wrote down all the commands in a txt document and copy pasted them with reverence ever sice. It felt like interacting with some kind of religious scriptures. I did not want to upset the machine spirit.
My gaze darts over all the different commands.
Color?
HELP COLOR!
It feels like getting caught redhanded. The first thing I look up on my
own is how to change the color of the commandline. After a few color
combinations, I return the settings to default. Black background and
white text. It feels like i am already getting a bit more comfortable
with using the command line.
I want to focus on the task at hand. I know how to go to different places now. CD. But whats inside the directory? DIR. A sense of familiarity washes over me. My favorite option to display files in the visual folder stucture is also present here. Filename, Filesize, Date of Change. I start to navigate my desktop with CD and DIR. Switching between folders, going deeper, going back. I wonder if there are other ways to navigate the small area of the vast expanse of data my computer has stored.
As I go back to the help overview and read through all the different commands I realize there are many I still feel afraid of trying out. Deleting, formatting, changing settings. I search for one that i would feel comfortable with. And again I tend to focus on how I can display things in different ways. But it's okay, I'll stick with it for now. As I type "TREE" and hit enter, my laptop outputs - seemingly without any effort - an enormous amount of data. Before me unfolds a map of all folders as well as their inner structures that are on my desktop. I am in awe. I never experienced my desktop all at once like this. There is so much. In a moment of disbelief I tab out of the Shell and check my desktop. There are a few files and some folders, but I still can't believe what this datascape actually is. I tab back to follow the paths on the map of my desktop to find all the the little subfolders. There is this weird feeling of exploring a new place or hiking with a map, while it being a very familiar place at the same time. Maybe it's not a new place but more like a map to displaced and forgotten memories. Memories so deeply burrowed they feel like a dejavu upon being revisted. I check my desktop. The folders are there. Folders, deep within folders of past data I discarded by not deleting them but condemning all the files to exist in a randomly named folder that I dragged into some other arbitrary folder. Feeling a bit ashamed for forgetting these poor files I downloaded ages ago in this purgatory, I go back to the Shell. I think this is enough for the time being.
How do I close the Shell the proper way, if there is one. I want to send off the program with one last command line input. I type exit. The Shell closes. I'll visit you a next time for sure. Farewell until then.
This website was made by cxxyyl / Stephan Thiel as part of the
Ultralight Website Workshop
with Laurel Schwulst.
It took place form Dec 4th – 7th 2023 at
HFBK Hamburg.