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It's true that the man pages aren't meant to be the primary method of learning Unix. But they are indeed a spectacular and irreplaceable resource.

One of the best things that ever happened in my career was having a desk across from the entire SunOS manual set. I'd pull them down one at a time and read them, cover to cover. It paid off, big time, and I strongly recommend it.




I was a bio major who would hang out in rooms with terminals in the early 90s.

One day I saw “type ‘man man’” and “apropos” written on a chalk board.

That is how I learned Unix.


Interestingly, actual bona fide AT&T System 5 Release 3 Unix had a "help" command, which was a full-screen menu-driven interactive help system.

* https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/448799/5132

There was also "learn", in BSD as I recall.




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