Still learning my way around Unix

So I've started to consider myself a fairly competent Unix / Linux user, only to continue to realize how little I know. It seems like that is always the case for me when it comes to computers, the more I've learned about computers in my various C.S classes, experience in programming jobs, and  tech news articles, the more I realize just how little I know. I want to know it all and I want to really really understand it.  I've been wanting to figure out a way to backup my data from my macbook to my tux machine (yes... I know Time Machine exists) but that isn't really what I need. So I started learning python and perl, hoping that would help me figure out how to traverse files and such. And yes it did!, yesterday night I spent several hours writing code that connects to a server via. ftp and begins to compare files. Well I then discover something called "rsync" hmm a preexisting way to handle backup processes oh wait, and it doesn't even use ftp. Rsync is incredible, I suspect Time Machine might be using it under the hood, anyway after figuring out how to use rsync I was like "great, but I really wish there was a way to automate this process like schedule backups daily or something..." and so I discovered cron. As soon as I started trying to add lines to cronedit, I was presented with a new problem... something called vi. Now that I have discovered what vi is, I hate it!! Pico  or Nano or whatever are so much better and make so much more sense for editing documents. I really do not see the advantages of vi. So within the course of a day, I have discovered: rsync, cron, vi, how to change default editor, ftp by default is a crappy way to transmit data, and python. But to be honest I really haven't learned that much, I have no idea how rsync works at the code level, nor cron, nor really ftp (well actually I'm pretty sure I know more or less whats going on with ftp at the code level) . Anyway although I think myself a relatively strong coder, I really don't know very much outside of that, and am seeking anyway I can to become a more knowledgeable, efficient, and useful computer scientist.  That is my goal in life. 

On Operating Systems

The new version of OSX , Leopard is quite interesting. I became a mac user only this summer and quickly found it to be quite superior to Windows. I have not abandoned Windows entirely as a .net programmer I am unable to leave it, my balance is found using parallels which allows me to use Windows like a tool instead of a desktop. Anyway one of the things I really enjoyed about Tiger was the fact that the operating system under that flashy productive GUI is Unix, or Unix like really. See I'm a Linux man, Fedora is my flavor and I really appreciated the fact that Tiger was Unix based. Anyway on to actually talking about Leopard. I did not like Leopard when I first tried using it, I found coverflow stupid, and I didn't like the way that the dock looks now. However after giving it a few days I have finally not just grown to like it but found it more productive than Tiger. Preview is awesome!!! preview has simplified the task of viewing things like mail attachments so much. No more waiting for Microsoft office to load or adobe for that matter, my document is immediately viewable. Another thing I really love is spaces, I was not sold on the idea as a Beryl Cube using Fedora man :). However as I've used it more and more I'm finding it much more useful than a cube effect. And I'm not sure why, as they both really accomplish the same thing. I suppose the ability to view all at once really helps.  There are many other things I have left out that I probably like without realizing it ,but the one thing I really want to mention is the fact that leopard's operating system is different than Tiger, certified Unix is under the hood. In fact that was the main reason I was excited about Leopard releasing. No open-source unix code will be easier than ever to make for Linux and OSX. And I find myself feeling like I'm in the same place when dealing with ftping or sshing it up through my macbook to linux box and back. CoverFlow is still stupid and not useful btw. Leopard has taken me a little bit longer to fall in love with than Tiger did, but after it's all done and said , Leopard is just another great update to a very already strong operating system that I hope will continue to grow in popularity. 

Introduction

My name is Owen Sikes, I am a 21 year old C.S Major attending the University of Alabama. I love just about anything nerd or computer related. I love to program and tinker with open source software. I know.. real exciting stuff :).