The eight levels of the command line heros

The Eight Circles of UNIX fu

(Author unknown)

Beginner	insecure with the concept of a terminal has yet to learn the basics of vi has not figured out how to get a directory listing still has trouble with typing after each line of input
Novice	knows that ls will produce a directory listing uses the editor, but calls it “vye” has heard of C but never used it has had his first bad experience with rm is wondering how to read his mail is wondering why the person next to him seems to like Unix so very much
User	uses vi and nroff, but inexpertly has heard of regular-expressions but never seen one has figured out that “-” precedes options has attempted to write a C program and has decided to stick with pascal is wondering how to move a directory thinks that dbx is a brand of stereo component knows how to read his mail and is wondering how to read the news
Knowlegable User	uses nroff with no trouble, and is beginning to learn tbl and eqn uses grep to search for fixed strings has figured out that mv will move directories has learned that “help” doesn`t help somebody has shown him how to write C programs once used sed to do some text substitution has seen dbx used but does not use it himself thinks that make is only for wimps
Expert	uses sed when necessary uses macro’s in vi, uses ex when necessary posts news at every possible opportunity write csh scripts occasionally write C programs using vi and compiles with cc has figured out what “&&” and “\|\|” are for thinks that human history started with “!h”
Hacker	uses sed and awk with comfort uses undocumented features of vi write C code with “cat >” and compiles with “!cc” uses adb because he doesn`t trust source debuggers can answer questions about the user environment writes his own nroff macros to supplement standard ones write scripts for Bourne shell knows how to install bug fixes
Guru	uses m4 and lex with comfort writes assembly code with “cat >” uses adb on the kernel while system is loaded customizes utilities by patching the source reads device driver source with his breakfast can answer any unix question after a little thought uses make for anything that requires two or more distinct commands to achieve has learned how to breach security but no longer needs to try
Wizard	writes device drivers with “cat >” fixes bugs by patching the binaries can answer any question before you ask writes his own troff macro packages is on first-name basis with Dennis, Bill, and Ken