How Did You Get There?

[kebbelj]

I've been playing with Linux for at least 5 years and have even taken a college course on Linux. Yet, almost everything I've ever done concerning hardware with Linux I've had to do with web research or help from forum posts. I frequently follow steps someone else posted without the faintest understanding of what I am doing. Where did the people who supply help get this knowledge? Do you have electronics background? What about C++ and Linux? Most introductory C++ courses don't go anywhere near C++ as a low-level, programming language for controlling hardware. Where do the Linux source code writers and forum experts get that C++ knowledge?

[techieMoe]

I can't speak for everyone, but I obtained most of my C/C++ and Linux knowledge the same way: I tinkered. I tinkered with files, tinkered with programs, tinkered with hardware configurations, and I ended up breaking a lot of things along the way. I knew I had learned something when I figured out how to UN-break them as well.

[easuter]

Yep, tinkering.
Its hard to learn stuff by yourself, but you never forget it.
Also, when you run into a problem don't give up until its solved (or keep at it as long as humanly possible).

[Cabhan]

I'll throw another one in for tinkering. Explore. Play with stuff. If you follow a guide on a forum, ask why they do certain things. Pay attention to output and the details of what you're doing.

As for C/++, you don't actually need any programming experience to use Linux. But I learned C and C++ the same way.

[bidi]

I just reiterate what everyone already said, it's all about breaking stuff! I really can't say how many installation I tanked by doing something wrong (most recently a Debian install that I hadn't used in almost a year and tried to upgrade).

As for programming, I've always had ease with procedural languages. I first learned Visual Basic in Windows, then Pascal, MATLAB (it's an engineering tool), and then read a book on C. I still don't know C++, I tried reading a book on it but didn't understand how to do anything. The only OOP I know is Objective-C, which is a direct subset of C used by GNUstep and MacOS X, which I also learned by reading.

[flipjargendy]

i went to college to be a programmer. Learning C++ and Java... well all the programming languages, even VB, helped me to understand how things work a bit. i still end up doing the same thing as you about 70% of the time. i have to use Google quite a bit to get tricky hardware going.

Although, i did drop out of college because i didn't want to be a programmer for a living. i still do it for fun though.

[aysiu]

I went to college to learn about literature (English major). I taught high school English for five years and now work in the admissions office of an art college. The closest I came to programming was learning Pascal for AP Computer Science in high school because I hate math a little less than I hate science.

I first tried Linux in 2004 because of crazy spyware/adware problems in XP. Then I gave up and just started using Firefox (instead of Internet Explorer). I got the Linux bug again in 2005 when it just seemed too complicated to customize the look of Windows. I stuck with it. Mepis was easy enough to use--didn't need the terminal. And then Ubuntu made the terminal easy to understand and use, especially with the help of the Ubuntu Guide and the Ubuntu Forums.

The biggest boost in my Linux learnings came from trying to help other people on the forums. I got really good at doing Google searches...

[tpl]

since grad school in '91-2 (that was back in the days of 0.12/13 when everything came as source code only:-)
using C because of portability (PC, unix boxen, our old Honeywell mainframe)--the kernel is C + asm, no
C++--lately more fun w/ the shell, awk, sed, grep etc (standard toolkit). V. Kernighan & Pike.

I still have a working 0.96c on the *o*l*d* 25mHz PC-AT with 70*m*e*g HD--still useful and quite fast: no GUI.

ah, for the days of overnight kernel source downloads at 2400 baud:-)

but when the OS is under my control, the threats==the promises: for that control must be exercised (Windows
newbies aren't used to this) and one can mess up. If root, badly:-)

been enjoying the forum onboard my sailboat "doe" at whangarei, new zealand: wireless tp t22 debian 3.1

ps. check out a.y.siu's "A Window User's Guide to Linux" above: good-oh!

[fingal]

Oh yes ... as everyone has said, learn by doing. You should be able to find support from forums, mailing lists etc. The whole Linux thing is based on hackerism, which you could define as 'Playful and enthusiastic tinkering and learning based on a powerful sense of curiosity.' This is a principle you could apply to all walks of life! After all, enthusiasm is free, and so is curiosity.

As I get older (and grow) I can see that this may even have more value than formal education, which I believe teaches you to think two dimensionally. How about just being driven by creativity and fascination? That may sound strange at first, but I can really see it as a way forward.

[apoorv_khurasia]

Where did the people who supply help get this knowledge?
...............
Where do the Linux source code writers and forum experts get that C++ knowledge?

As everyone has already said about curiosity etc I would not repeat that (its true but). I will tell something else. It all lies in the roots you see. C was originally written to be something better than assembly/machine language. In the days when C was invented all this hardware dealing had to be done via complex assembly routines and when C came people like Ritchee realized that its a better alternative to assembly and eventually wrote most of the UNIX in C. Thats where it all began. And as is with all forms of human knowledge it passed on (first in Univs/Coffeeshops and then on forums/coffee lounges ). Many people add to it by tinkering, some learn from books/net.