NAME

learn − computer aided instruction about UNIX

SYNOPSIS

learn [ − directory ] [ subject [ lesson ] ]

DESCRIPTION

Learn gives computer aided instruction courses and practice in the use of UNIX, the C Shell, and the Berkeley text editors.  To get started simply type learn.  If you had used learn before and left your last session without completing a subject, the program will use information in $HOME/.learnrc to start you up in the same place you left off.  Your first time through, learn will ask questions to find out what you want to do.  Some questions may be bypassed by naming a subject, and more yet by naming a lesson. You may enter the lesson as a number that learn gave you in a previous session.  If you do not know the lesson number, you may enter the lesson as a word, and learn will look for the first lesson containing it.  If the lesson is ‘−’, learn prompts for each lesson; this is useful for debugging. 

The subjects currently covered are files, editor, vi, morefiles, macros, eqn, and C. 

COMMANDS

There are a few special commands. 

again Re-displays the text of the lesson. 

again lesson Lets you review lesson.

bye Terminates a learn session. 

hint Prints the last part of the lesson script used to evaluate a response.  Learn cannot tell you in English the answers it expects, but hint can provide you with a few clues. 

hint m Prints the whole lesson script.  This command is useful for debugging lessons. 

where tells you the state of your progress. 

where m Tells you more about your progress. 

OPTIONS

−directory Lets you exercise a script in a nonstandard place. 

FILES

/usr/lib/learnsubtree for all dependent directories and files
/usr/tmp/pl∗playpen directories:  temporary directories created

by learn in which users can practice
use of the system
$HOME/.learnrcstartup information

SEE ALSO

csh(1), ex(1)
B. W. Kernighan and M. E. Lesk, LEARN − Computer-Aided Instruction on UNIX

BUGS

The main strength of learn, that it asks the student to use the real UNIX, also makes possible baffling mistakes.  It is helpful, especially for nonprogrammers, to have a UNIX initiate near at hand during the first sessions. 

Occasionally lessons are incorrect, sometimes because the local version of a command operates in a non-standard way.  Occasionally a lesson script does not recognize all the different correct responses, in which case the ‘hint’ command may be useful.  Such lessons may be skipped with the ‘skip’ command, but it takes some sophistication to recognize the situation. 

To find a lesson given as a word, learn does a simple fgrep(1) through the lessons.  It is unclear whether this sort of subject indexing is better than none. 

Spawning a new shell is required for each of many user and internal functions. 

The vi lessons are provided separately from the others.  To use them see your system administrator. 

INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS 4.3 BSD  —  May 15, 1986