Once you open the command line interface , the interface will be there just waiting or you to type the commands and communicate with the computer

Commands

A Command instructs a computer to perform a specific task without using the graphical interface.

Commands are just simple texts directing the computer what to do.

They simply direct the computer on what to do and what not to do at a particular time.

For what we we are going to cover today;One does not require a special skill to use a command in the computer, since the texts(command),

which are understandable for a communication between the user and the computer.

One only needs to understand the command he/she is typing at a particular moment

your work is to open the command line interface and type in the command and then leave the command to be executed

After execution there will be an output either in the command line interface or the computer

Uses of the command line:

• in making a directory
• creating a new text file
• in deleting a text file
• Navigate through your files and folders in your computer

advantages of using the command line over the graphical user interface

• its easy to use since it is the combination of texts written in the command line interface for execution by the computer
• it is faster as compared to the graphical user interface
• it allows for multitasking

In the software engineering world you will be using command in most cases

How do programmers use the command line?

• to install packages – instead of installing a package directly from the official website one can just install it via the command line which will be executed e.g npm install express
• used to remove packages – this can be done using the command line instead of doing it manually e.g npm uninstall express
• to check the different versions of the packages e.g npm list
• used to upgrade a package e.g npm update express
• to degrade a package e.g npm install express3.xyz
• for remote project collaboration e.g git
• to check on programming language version e.g node -v

Some of the terms here may seem to be weird but don’t worry about them,

these are just but some of the tasks a programmer does with the command line interface

For those getting into programming here are just but some of the commands you should jump start off your mind with the command line basics,

these are easier to memorize and use

Commands

The commands to get started with include:

1 cd –

Used to change directories,

to use just type cd followed by the name of your directory

in my case below i want to change my directory to desktop ill type cd desktop, in using this make sure you type the correct name and spelling.

C:\Users\LENOVO>cd desktop

C:\Users\LENOVO\Desktop>

2. pwd –

Used to print the working directory, just type pwd in my case its desktop see below

C:\Users\LENOVO\Desktop>pwd
/c/Users/LENOVO/Desktop

3. ls –

Used to display the content of the your working directory ,

just type ls ,

the example below shows the content found in my directory called git_test

C:\Users\LENOVO\Desktop\git_test\git_test>ls
README.md  hello_world.txt

4. mkdir –

Used to create a new directory type mkdir then the name of the directory eg mkdir test

C:\Users\LENOVO\Desktop\git_test\git_test>mkdir test //makedirectory test

C:\Users\LENOVO\Desktop\git_test\git_test>ls //type ls to show the content
README.md  hello_world.txt  test //test added

5. touch –

Used to create a new file , type touch followed by the name of your file , e.g touch index.html

C:\Users\LENOVO\Desktop\git_test\git_test>touch index.html //creates file index.html

C:\Users\LENOVO\Desktop\git_test\git_test>ls //show content
README.md  hello_world.txt  index.html  test //index.html added

6 . cd ..

Navigates you back to the previous directory

C:\Users\LENOVO\Desktop\git_test\git_test>cd .. //goes back to git_test

C:\Users\LENOVO\Desktop\git_test>cd .. //goes back to desktop

C:\Users\LENOVO\Desktop>

Now having known the command line basics keep on practicing with other commands.

Check out this guide on Linux Commands