Objective Learn how to use the bash getopts builtin to parse a script options Operating System and Software Versions Operating System: - All Linux distributions Requirements No special requirements, just access to a bash shell Difficulty MEDIUM Conventions

Introduction The following post is a little bit different from my other posts as it does not solve any of your Linux configuration problems. Apologies there! This post is an attempt to kill multiple birds with one stone, hence expose children to a command line, avoid web flash and ads driven multiplication practice tests online and most importantly gain some multiplication skills along the way. My daughter reached the age where she is required to perform multiplication calculation at school....

Objective Install ZSH with Oh My ZSH and learn the basic features. Distributions ZSH is available in the repositories of nearly every distribution. Requirements A working Linux install with root privileges. Difficulty Easy Conventions # - requires given command to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command $ - given command to be executed as a regular non-privileged user Introduction Bash isn't bad. It gets the job done just fine, but have you...

Objective Learn to use redirections, pipes and tee in the Bash shell Operating System and Software Versions Operating System: - Linux distribution agnostic Requirements Access to a Bash shell Difficulty EASY Conventions

Introduction Python will let you know when you get your syntax wrong. It'll immediately fail and not allow your program to run. What about when your code has a different type of problem? Those are called exceptions, and they tend to be harder to catch. It's up to you to recognize situations where hey might come up and catch them to prevent your program from crashing altogether. Imagine a scenario where you need user input. Do you want your program to crash every time a user mistypes something...

Introduction Python is a powerful scripting language. So, why not use it to script Linux? The os module is Python's answer to handling many Linux file operations. The os module allows Python to perform many of the file and folder operations that you'd typically carry out in the Linux command line. It enable you to begin swapping out Bash for Python, which makes for a much cleaner and friendlier scripting experience. Loading OS The os module is a Python module like any other. In any script...

Introduction You've worked with both functions and methods, but there's a different type of function, the anonymous function. Anonymous functions are just functions without names, and in Python, they are handled with the lambda operator. Anonymous functions allow you to use the behavior of a function without having to create a function. This is especially good when you only need to use a function once or twice. It might sound like an unusual occurrence, but it happens fairly frequently when a...

Introduction Jut about any program of a decent size needs to be able to read and write from files. At very least, it needs to be able to generate logs. Python is also tightly integrated into Linux system administration and scripting. Again, reading and writing are important for managing a system. Opening A File Python creates and object from the file that it opens. It can then manipulate that object. When it's done, it uses the object to save the any changes back to the file. Create a new text...

Introduction Whenever you need some additional functionality in Python, you turn to the import keyword to pull in extras from Python modules. You've used common ones like the math module plenty of times. Now, you will learn how to create your own Python modules and packages to compartmentalize your code. Modules are sort of like classes in that they make your code modular. While classes make code modular within a program and serve as the blueprints for objects, modules make all of your code...

Introduction Polymorphism is yet another important aspect of Object Oriented Programming. No Warcraft fans, it doesn't have anything to do with turning people into sheep. That'd be much cooler. Instead, Polymorphism allows methods and functions to use classes with similar functionality in the same way. Polymorphism cuts down on the amount of code that you need to write by eliminating redundancy in a logical and meaningful way. It relies on you, the programmer, to be clever in your design and...

Introduction Inheritance is yet another key concept in Object Oriented Programming, and it plays a vital role in building classes. It allows a class to be based off on an existing one. When you first started writing Python classes, you were told to just put "Object" in the parenthesis of the class definition and not think too much about it. Well, now's the time to start thinking about it. "Object" is actually the base class that all Python classes inherit from. It defines a basic set of...

Introduction Encapsulation is one of the fundamental aspects of Object Oriented Programming. It allows programmers better control of how data flows in their programs, and it protects that data. Encapsulation also makes objects into more self-sufficient and independently functioning pieces. The concept of encapsulation builds on what you did in the last two guides with classes and constructors. Constructors usually are usually used in close conjunction with encapsulation and actually aid in...

Introduction By now, you should be familiar with the way basic classes work in Python . If classes were just what you've seen, they'd be fairly rigid and not all that useful. Thankfully, classes are much more than just that. They are designed to be much more adaptable and can take in information to shape the way they look initially. Not every car starts off exactly the same, and neither should classes. After all, how awful would it be if every car was an orange 71' Ford Pinto? That's not a...

Introduction Classes are the cornerstone of Object Oriented Programming. They are the blueprints used to create objects. And, as the name suggests, all of Object Oriented Programming centers around the use of objects to build programs. You don't write objects, not really. They are created, or instantiated, in a program using a class as their basis. So, you design objects by writing classes. That means that the most important part of understanding Object Oriented Programming is understanding...

Python is a big deal. It is one of the fastest growing and most in-demand programming languages in the world today. Python is so flexible and versatile that it is used for nearly every job that a programming language can do. Python powers desktop applications, is used for Linux system scripting and automation, acts as a glue language between Linux applications, is a supplemental scripting language in large programs like GIMP, Blender, and Autodesk Maya, performs crucial scientific and...

Introduction Code would quickly become an ugly and unruly mess if there wasn't a way to easily repeat and reuse it. You've already seen some of that with loops. They're great for repeating the same task multiple times right away. What if you wanted to reuse a block of code whenever you wanted? Well, that's where functions come in. Here's another trip back to math class. If you remember, functions took in a number, did something to it, then outputted the new value. They were often represented...

Introduction You've already gotten acquainted with dictionaries, but just like the other data structures Python supports, there are methods and more powerful ways to use them. There aren't as many methods for working with dictionaries as there are for lists, but that's because dictionaries just don't need them. Plus, many of the ones that do exist, work to break down dictionaries into lists and tuples to make them easier to manage. So, those list methods can be used in conjunction with the...

Introduction Somebody hit lists with gamma rays. Okay, so Dictionaries aren't the Incredible Hulk, but they are supercharged in what they can do. In other languages, dictionaries are referred to as hashes, associative arrays, and associative lists. It's probably best to think of them as associative lists because that's exactly what they are. Dictionaries are lists that associate two values with one another. To think of it in terms of an actual dictionary, they associate a word, or key with a...

Introduction There is yet another type of loop. That loop is designed for iterating sets of data. That's right, lists. Unlike while loops, these for loops have a defined length based on the data set that they are iterating over. Generally, for loops are used to access and modify each element in a list. To do this, they temporarily represent each element as a new variable used only within the loop. for loops have a slightly different structure than while loops do. They begin with the word for ,...

Introduction Many times in programming, you will need to repeat the same task many times. In fact, looping through and repeating an operation is one of the cornerstones of programming. After all, one of the things that computers are way better than humans at is performing repetitive tasks without getting tired or making mistakes. One of the simplest ways to make a program repeat the same task is to use a while loop. A while loop repeats the same block of code while a condition is true. When...