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finish computer_literacy
author Franklin Schmidt <fschmidt@gmail.com>
date Thu, 09 Oct 2025 19:15:03 -0600
parents fb87f762847e
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		<title>Arkian - Computer Literacy</title>
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'use strict';

let content = {
	intro: {
		title: 'Introduction',
		content: `\
<p>Computer literacy is a generally useful skill, and it helps with maintaining this website.  Learning the basic skills taught here will give you a better understanding of your computer and will help you use it more effectively.</p>

<p>I will often say "Do X" without saying how to do X.  A big part of computer literacy is figuring out how to do things.  Your two main resources are Google and AI's like ChatGPT and Claude.</p>
`		,
	},
	editor: {
		title: 'Text Editor and JSON',
		content: `\
<p>Many files on your computer are text files.  These files contain simple text.  You edit these files with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_editor">text editor</a>.

<p>I reviewed the available text editors and I think <a href="https://www.sublimetext.com/">Sublime Text</a> is the best one available.  So please download it and learn how it works.</p>

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON">JSON</a> is the most popular text data format.  Do your own research on JSON to understand it.  It is fairly simple.</p>

<p>I paired Sublime Text with JSON because Sublime Text uses JSON files for its <a href="https://www.sublimetext.com/docs/settings.html">settings</a>.  (Actually not quite pure JSON because it includes comments which are lines starting with <code>//</code>.)  Experiment with Sublime Text settings to learn more about both Sublime Text and JSON.</p>
`		,
	},
	bash: {
		title: 'Bash - Command Line Shell',
		content: `\
<p><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/">Bash</a> is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_shell">Unix shell</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command-line_interface">command line</a>.  Using the command line is like having a conversation with one's computer.  Bash deals with basic concepts like files and directories.  Using Bash will give you a much deeper understanding of your computer.</p>

<p>There are many shells available but Bash is old and standard.  None of the alternatives are better, so stick with Bash.  For this lesson, please read <a href="bash.html">my tutorial</a>.</p>
`		,
	},
	regex: {
		title: 'Regular Expressions',
		content: `\
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression">Regular expressions</a>, or regex for short, are used for searching or matching text.  This is a common need in programming, but is also useful for Bash which uses it in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grep">grep</a> command.</p>

<p>There are a few decent grep tutorials, so I don't have to write my own.  Here they are:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://vegastack.com/tutorials/regular-expressions-in-grep/">Regular Expressions in Grep</a></li>
<li><a href="https://cs.nyu.edu/~mohri/unix08/lect4">Regular Expressions</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.gnu.org/software/grep/manual/grep.html">GNU Grep</a></li>
</ul>

<p>I suggest that you just read through these tutorials so that you get a sense for how regex and grep work.  You don't need to practice anything here.  You can come back to these tutorials later when you have a real need for regex or grep.</p>
`		,
	},
	hg: {
		title: 'Mercurial - Source Control',
		content: `\
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Version_control">Source control</a> tracks changes to files.  It is mostly used by programmers but is useful for anyone who wants to track changes in files.  This website is in source control.</p>

<p>The most popular source control software is <a href="https://git-scm.com/">Git</a>.  Of course it is horrible since modern programmers only like horrible things.  We use the less popular software <a href="https://www.mercurial-scm.org/">Mercurial</a>.</p>

<p>Thankfully Mercurial is well documented.  Read <a href="https://hgbook.red-bean.com/">Mercurial: The Definitive Guide</a> up to (and including) chapter 9.</p>

<p>To get started with Mercurial, download Mercurial from <a href="https://www.mercurial-scm.org/">their website</a> and install it.  Then do:</p>

<code block>
~/learn $ hg version
Mercurial Distributed SCM (version 5.2.2)
(see https://mercurial-scm.org for more information)

Copyright (C) 2005-2019 Matt Mackall and others
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
~/learn $ 
</code>

<p>If this works, it is installed properly.  Next <a href="https://hgbook.red-bean.com/read/a-tour-of-mercurial-the-basics.html#sec:tour-basic:username">set up your Mercurial configuration file</a> which is <code>~/.hgrc</code> on a Mac or <code>/c/Users/$(whoami)/mercurial.ini</code> on Windows <a href="https://www.msys2.org/">MSYS2</a>.  My <a href="https://www.mercurial-scm.org/doc/hgrc.5.html">hgrc</a> file looks like this:

<code block>
[ui]
username = Franklin Schmidt <fschmidt@gmail.com>

[auth]
hghosting.prefix = https://hg.reactionary.software/repo/
hghosting.username = fschmidt@gmail.com
hghosting.password = xxxxxxxxxx

[extensions]
hgext.extdiff =

[extdiff]
cmd.dm = diffmerge
</code>

<p>You should register on <a href="https://hg.reactionary.software/">our Mercurial hosting service</a> and use your email as the username and the assigned password in <code>.hgrc</code>.  The last two blocks set up <code>hg dm</code> to call <a href="https://sourcegear.com/diffmerge/">DiffMerge</a> by using the <a href="https://wiki.mercurial-scm.org/ExtdiffExtension">Extdiff extension</a>.</p>

<p>Now you can play with <a href="https://hg.reactionary.software/repo/test/">https://hg.reactionary.software/repo/test/</a> like this:</p>

<code block>
~/learn $ hg clone https://hg.reactionary.software/repo/test/ hgtest1
no changes found
updating to branch default
0 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved
~/learn $ hg clone https://hg.reactionary.software/repo/test/ hgtest2
no changes found
updating to branch default
0 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved
~/learn $ ls -Fd h*
hgtest1/	hgtest2/
~/learn $ cd hgtest1
~/learn/hgtest1 $ touch file.txt
~/learn/hgtest1 $ e file.txt 
~/learn/hgtest1 $ cat file.txt 
some text
~/learn/hgtest1 $ hg status
? file.txt
~/learn/hgtest1 $ hg add file.txt 
~/learn/hgtest1 $ hg status
A file.txt
~/learn/hgtest1 $ hg pull
pulling from https://hg.reactionary.software/repo/test/
no changes found
~/learn/hgtest1 $ hg commit -m 'add file.txt'
~/learn/hgtest1 $ hg push
pushing to https://hg.reactionary.software/repo/test/
searching for changes
remote: adding changesets
remote: adding manifests
remote: adding file changes
remote: added 1 changesets with 1 changes to 1 files
~/learn/hgtest1 $ cd ../hgtest2
~/learn/hgtest2 $ hg pull
pulling from https://hg.reactionary.software/repo/test/
requesting all changes
adding changesets
adding manifests
adding file changes
added 1 changesets with 1 changes to 1 files
new changesets aab34516d8dc
(run 'hg update' to get a working copy)
~/learn/hgtest2 $ hg update
1 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved
~/learn/hgtest2 $ hg status
~/learn/hgtest2 $ cat file.txt 
some text
~/learn/hgtest2 $ e file.txt 
~/learn/hgtest2 $ cat file.txt 
some text
and more
~/learn/hgtest2 $ hg status
M file.txt
~/learn/hgtest2 $ hg pull
pulling from https://hg.reactionary.software/repo/test/
searching for changes
no changes found
~/learn/hgtest2 $ hg dm
~/learn/hgtest2 $ hg commit -m 'and more'
~/learn/hgtest2 $ hg push
pushing to https://hg.reactionary.software/repo/test/
searching for changes
remote: adding changesets
remote: adding manifests
remote: adding file changes
remote: added 1 changesets with 1 changes to 1 files
</code>
`		,
	},
	programming: {
		title: 'Programming',
		content: `\
<p>If you are interested in learning programming, you can continue with my <a href="https://www.reactionary.software/learn.html">reactionary programming course</a>.</p>
`		,
	},
};
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			<h1><a href="computer_literacy.html">Computer Literacy</a></h1>
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			<h2>Contents</h2>
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