Why the command line is needed on modern computers
We’re figuring it out on Macs and Windows.
Almost all modern programs and operating systems are designed for either finger or mouse control. And that’s a very good thing if you’re opening up your computer for the first time and don’t know what’s there yet. All the icons are on the screen, you can select the right command, everything is clear.
But you will notice that experienced users hardly ever touch the mouse – they do most of the work with the keyboard and it is much faster. This is due to the fact that pressing keys is much faster, especially if you already have muscle memory.
Programs have hotkeys to speed things up. And the operating system has a command line – it’s like hotkeys, only for the whole computer.
What the command line can do
The command line can do everything the operating system can do, and more:
copy and move files, rename them, and create new folders;
format disks, mount and unmount disks;
run applications and programs without an interface, give them tasks, get results;
change system settings, work with the network;
automate all this to a certain extent; and much more.
To put it more accurately: the command line can do everything that an operating system can do, and more.
How to invoke the command line
The command line is built into every Windows or MacOS computer. The program that gives you access to the command line is called a terminal.
If you have Windows, you need to press the Win+R key combination, type cmd in the window that appears and press Enter. In MacOS, press Cmd+space, type terminal, and then press Enter (this is the default setting and can be changed).
You will see a window where you can enter commands for the computer.
How it works
The command line works like this: you write commands to the computer and it executes them. There are internal and external commands.
Internal commands are those that are already built into the operating system. They can be used to control the computer within the basic capabilities of the operating system.
External commands are all the programs that the user puts on the computer himself. It often happens that when a program is installed, it adds the auxiliary programs it needs to the system – and they too become external commands. For example:
- you put a VS Code program on your computer to program in Python;
- then you can type code at the command line, press the enter key and the program will run;
- this means that immediately after installing this program, the computer has a new command, code.
Why a web developer needs a command line
Because most frameworks are installed and managed from the command line. Angular, on the other hand, allows you to create templates and application templates through the command line.
If you’re a web developer, the command line will come in handy:
- to install all the server tools, such as PHP, Apache and MySQL;
- API and queries;
- setting up the server environment and access control;
- for working with repositories and creating backups of projects;
- for testing the server under load;
- getting logs for server analysis.