HN Explorer

Ask HN: What are important CLI / bash commands for a full stack dev to know?

8 points by nemild ↗ HN
I created a prioritized list of CLI commands for full stack developers that reflects important basics or will improve productivity - and am looking for contributions and feedback: https://github.com/nemild/cli_for_full_stack

Current documentation (like a man page) is typically exhaustive, doesn't sort by importance/usage, neglects common compound flag combinations, and is not located in a single doc. For example, for grep I want to know the top X ways to use it and some background about when they should be used - not everything. Further, there are a lot of HN posts about developers' favorite piped commands (I call them command cocktails - where multiple commands are used on the same line with outputs flowing into inputs) that are spread over HN comment threads - and are primarily communicated today by word of mouth to new devs. I've culled the top HN posts and comments on the CLI over the years - plus a few websites to put together this list.

Pull requests highly encouraged.

3 comments

[ 5.3 ms ] story [ 15.1 ms ] thread
mapimopi
Welp, there was a few programs I've never heard about, but the "Keyboard Shortcuts" section was the most shocking for me. No one ever told me!
stevekemp
What's your goal here? Are you trying to ensure that that people know how to run commands, that people use the same forms, or what?

Compare your question with:

"What are the most important English/Language keys for a typist to know?"

The most important command depend on context. If people know "the basics" they'll be fine with the rest.

nemild
I made it as a reference for newer engineers to feel that they had the basics to be productive. When I started: 1. I found myself consulting 20 different resources, not 1-2 2. Was often unsure what commands were important 3. Had a hard time finding the most used examples (it often is passed down by word of mouth)

Clearly, it depends on context/audience (e.g., if you're a data scientist and work with CSVs a lot vs. a frontend eng) - but I wanted a good baseline (say for a strong startup eng) without getting too esoteric.

Not sure I've achieved that, but appreciate your further feedback or pull requests.