IT Insights Blog — Linux

Have you ever been taking a certification exam, gotten to a question that you couldn't immediately answer, and thought, "OK. So what would this look like on my computer screen?" Maybe you stare at the ceiling for a second, attempting to conjure a mental picture, or close your eyes in concentration. Many of us are kinesthetic learners, meaning that we are most successful at internalizing concepts when we can use a "hands on" approach and go through something step-by-step. It's often far more common, however, that advanced knowledge is presented in a manner that requires us to learn visually, through reading, or auditorily, through listening. If you've ever been to a college lecture hall, or purchased a textbook, then you're likely well acquainted with those approaches. 

Here's something to think about for all of you working IT professionals out there. When is the last time that your manager sent you an urgent e-mail to start the day that was written up sort of like this: Dear Ted, I need you to look into this issue right away and get back to me. Suppose that I have an application whose behavior depends on the environment variable BAR. Which of the following command lines may be used in a bash shell to configure the application?