Hands-on Introduction to Linux Commands and Shell Scripting

Name: Hands-on Introduction to Linux Commands and Shell Scripting
Rating: 4.64 (1 reviews)

IBM via Coursera

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Overview

$200 off Coursera Plus

$199 for 12 months (regularly $399). Offer valid till Jan 31st.

Class Central Tips

This course provides a practical introduction to Linux and commonly used Linux / UNIX shell commands. It teaches you the basics of Bash shell scripting to automate a variety of tasks. The course includes both video-based lectures as well as hands-on labs to practice and apply what you learn. You will have no-charge access to a virtual Linux server that you can access through your web browser, so you don't need to download and install anything to perform the labs.

You will learn how to interact with the Linux Terminal, execute commands, navigate directories, edit files, as well as install and update software.

You will work with general purpose commands like id, date, uname, ps, top, echo, man; directory management commands such as pwd, cd, mkdir, rmdir, find, df; file management commands like cat, wget, more, head, tail, cp, mv, touch, tar, zip, unzip; access control command chmod; text processing commands - wc, grep, tr; as well as networking commands - hostname, ping, ifconfig and curl.

You will create simple to more advanced shell scripts that involve Metacharacters, Quoting, Variables, Command substitution, I/O Redirection, Pipes & Filters, and Command line arguments. You will also schedule cron jobs using crontab.

This course is ideal for data engineers, data scientists, software developers, DevOps professionals, and cloud practitioners who want to get familiar with frequently used commands on Linux, MacOS and other Unix-like operating systems as well as get started with creating shell scripts.

Syllabus

Introduction to Linux

Linux is one of the most popular operating systems with a large user-base of developers and programmers. Linux has been around since the 1990s and has reached a user-base that spans around the world. Linux is everywhere. It is in your phones, your thermostats, and in your cars.

In this module, you will learn about the history of Linux, its various distributions and the standard architecture that they all use, and how you can use the Linux terminal and shell to interact with your Linux system. You will also learn how to create and edit text files and explore how to update and install software on your system.

Introduction to Linux Commands

In this module, you will learn about the characteristics of Linux commands. You will explore the different Linux commands and their outputs such as informational commands, file and directory navigation and management commands, file archiving and compression commands, and finally networking commands.

Introduction to Shell Scripting

A shell is a powerful user interface for Unix-like operating systems. It can interpret commands and run other programs. It also enables access to files, utilities, and applications, and is an interactive scripting language. Additionally, you can use a shell to automate tasks. Linux shell commands are used for navigating and working with files and directories. You can also use them for file compression and archiving.

In this module, you will learn about the characteristics of shell scripting. You will explore the different Linux commands and their outputs, Bash scripting, and how to schedule jobs using crontab. You will learn how to work with filters, pipes, and variables.

Final Project and Final Exam

In this final module, you will work on your Linux Commands and Shell Scripting final assignment. You will consolidate the skills that you learned throughout this course by applying them to a specific scenario. To complete the project successfully, you must demonstrate that you are equipped with the essentials of Linux and shell scripting. You will also complete the final exam to validate your understanding of the subjects you learned during the course.

Taught by

Rav Ahuja and Ramesh Sannareddy

Reviews

1.0 rating, based on 1 Class Central review

4.6 rating at Coursera based on 575 ratings

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Anonymous

Everything that follows, is just my own personal opinion, if not stated otherwise. It is based on my observations and interactions with teaching staff in the course discussion forums (for the last few months). This is a very poorly executed course. As...

Everything that follows, is just my own personal opinion, if not stated otherwise. It is based on my observations and interactions with teaching staff in the course discussion forums (for the last few months).
This is a very poorly executed course.
As of today (28 Sep 2022) this course for me still does not meet the criteria of a "good resource for learning" the basics of Linux CLI and shell scripting (despite few minor improvements already applied).
Some of the topics are hastily skimmed through in the videos, and almost no mechanism presented in the course is thoroughly explained.
Many of the "basic concepts" for Bash (and other modern shells) like e.g. function definitions, proper error handling, etc., are not even included in the course.
The importance of using correct quotations for variable/parameter expansions is also never mentioned nor explained, although it should be considered essential "best practice".
Peer-graded Final Assignment instructions/"guide" contains some errors and not fully tested solutions, advertised as "working correctly".
The similar can be said about grading rubrics for the final assignment - which additionally are not focused on the actual results of the code execution, but instead they're focused on the code "looks", as in its visual resemblance (being as close to "identical" as possible) to what the course's staff have written in the grading rubrics.
In some cases, if the teaching staff finds a question in a discussion forum a bit more "inconvenient" for them to answer (or they're not fully capable of providing the correct answer to it in a timely manner?), then they would rather:
a) ignore the question completely (the least they can do is to not get involved at all) or reply with something similar to: "we'll investigate the issue and get back to you" (the latter "get back to you" almost never happens for a "more complicated" question);
b) reply with some irrelevant, impractical, incorrect, or otherwise unuseful information;
c) politely ask, to not bring the subject up ever again, as it may "overwhelm the learners";
d) delete the post (most often containing a valid, correct answer to the question) from discussion forums (I see censorship as "means of hiding incompetence"?)
e) repeat other learner's correct answer (sometimes only slightly modifying it);
f) and also (occasionally) delete any relevant corrections (made by more knowledgeable learners) to previous staff's posts/replies;
than admit to any mistakes in the course contents, admit to lack of expertise in the subject matter, and address the questions properly - e.g. by allowing open discussion on potential improvements to the course materials, and implementing all said improvements as soon as possible (after reviewing).
These practices have been reported, and as I was assured by the Coursera Support Team, this kind of inappropriate teaching staff's behaviors will be escalated further, so I'm awaiting next developments of the situation.
But I still think this kind of inappropriate behaviors are a clear example, of what gives (or rather should give) the Skill-Up Technologies Pvt. Ltd. / SkillUp Online (employers for the most of "teaching staff") a bad reputation.
This also might give Coursera courses and IBM Skills Network a really bad publicity in a long-run.
Teaching and following "best practices", and answering doubts with relevant, thorough, technical knowledge in the discussion forums of this course... is something you unlikely/rarely find coming from the teaching staff.
Generally, teaching staff don't seem to be fit for the job of thoroughly explaining the course materials and teaching the proper "understanding" of your mistakes (as hard as they try to be seen "cooperative"),
but as I see it, they're better suited for
a) only requesting you to "copy and paste" their code samples, that they believe should work best as a "correct solution" in their opinions (side note, again, "my opinion" - their code doesn't work all that great, and is not written with all the "best practices" in mind) and
b) deleting "inconvenient" posts from the discussion forums whenever they please.
To sum it up: in its current form, and with its current teaching staff replying in the discussion forums, I'd definitely not recommend this course to anyone, especially beginners. And I'd discourage seeking any "great" learning experience from Skill-Up Technologies Pvt. Ltd. / SkillUp Online - thus I'd strongly suggest searching for some other, better resources on the subjects regarding basics of working with Linux CLI and shell scripting.

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