Module 8: Developer Workstation Basics
The terminal
🏠The everyday picture
Ordering food by pointing at pictures on a menu versus telling the waiter exactly what you want. Pointing (the mouse) is easy for common things. Speaking (typing commands) is faster and more precise once you know the words, and it's the only option when there are no pictures.
📘What it really is
- The terminal (also called the command line or shell) lets you control the computer by typing commands.
- Windows: PowerShell or Windows Terminal.
- Mac: Terminal (Applications → Utilities).
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Linux servers: the terminal is usually the only way in.
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Developer tools (Git, Node.js, package managers) are mostly used from the terminal, and AI coding tools often suggest terminal commands. Reading them confidently is an essential skill.
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The terminal always works in one folder at a time, called the current directory.
- It does exactly what you type, with no undo. Read a command before you press Enter, especially one you copied from the internet or an AI.
🖱️Try it
Open your terminal and type each command, pressing Enter after each:
pwd
whoami
On Windows PowerShell, pwd and whoami both work too. pwd shows the folder you're in; whoami shows
your user account.
✅Quick check
*An AI tells you to run a command you don't understand, which includes the word rm or del. What should you
Show the answer
do?* Stop and ask what it does first. Those commands delete files, and the terminal has no undo or bin.
Why do servers usually have no mouse-and-window interface?
Show the answer
Servers run without a screen; the terminal uses far fewer resources and can be used remotely over SSH.