Introduction to Version and File Histories

What are files, and how can we work with them from the command line? How can we continue to work collaboratively?

From GUI to Command Line

Recap: The Command Line

We’ve learned how to:

  • Create directories with mkdir in Linux/Unix or New-Item -ItemType Directory in PowerShell
  • Navigate with cd and pwd OR Set-Location and Get-Location
  • List contents with ls OR Get-ChildItem
  • Create files with touch OR New-Item

But what exactly are files?

Introducing File Formats

The Many File Formats

What is a File? A Somewhat Reductive Answer

A file is a collection of data stored in a single unit, identified by a filename.

Files can be:

  • Documents
  • Images
  • Videos
  • Audio
  • Any other collection of data

File Extensions

The file extension is the part of the file name after the period.

Extension Type
.docx Microsoft Word document
.jpg Image file
.mp3 Audio file
.txt Plain text file
.md Markdown file

Proprietary vs Open Formats

Some file formats depend on particular software ecosystems.

For example, .docx files are designed for Microsoft Word and similar word processors.

What is this?

Strange characters?

Proprietary All the Way Down

To be clear, .doc was invented in 1983 along with the first version of the software for Microsoft Word which ran on MS-DOS, whereas .docx was only introduced in 2007 as part of an XML-based update to the software.

History of Word

What Are Open or Plain Text Formats?

Open or plain text based formats are easier to inspect directly.

  • .txt files work with any text editor
  • Main benefit? More sustainable and portable

Plain Text vs Formatted Text

A Word Document and a .txt file might look the same…

But Word contains hidden formatting that .txt does not.

In programming, we want to be explicit - so plain text is preferable.

What is Plain Text? The Unicode Definition

According to the Unicode Standard:

Plain text is a pure sequence of character codes; plain Unicode-encoded text is therefore a sequence of Unicode character codes.

Key concept: Plain text shows if it is formatted or not (we call this markup), and usually contains no formatting.

Who Decides What Counts as Text?

Who has heard of the Unicode Consortium?

Why Plain Text Matters

Plain text is:

  • Portable - moves between programs easily
  • Manipulable - responds to programmatic operations
  • Sustainable - doesn’t require specific software

Edited in a text editor like VS Code

Let’s experiment with Plain Text & Project Gutenberg

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Origins of Project Gutenberg

Founded by Michael Hart at UIUC in 1971

Public Domain and Access

Project Gutenberg focuses especially on public domain texts.

That means many works can be legally:

  • copied
  • shared
  • remixed
  • redistributed

How did Project Gutenberg initially start creating digital texts? What is Public Domain Day?

Downloading Files from the Command Line

curl https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1342/1342-0.txt > pride-and-prejudice.txt

The curl Command

  • curl = “client URL” - downloads files from the internet
  • > = redirect output to create a new file
  • Result: a .txt file with the book’s text

Windows Alternatives

Using WSL/Ubuntu:

wget https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1342/1342-0.txt > pride-and-prejudice.txt

Using PowerShell:

wget https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1342/1342-0.txt -OutFile pride-and-prejudice.txt

Working with Text Files

Displaying File Contents

macOS / WSL / Linux

cat pride-and-prejudice.txt

PowerShell

Get-Content pride-and-prejudice.txt

cat usually works in PowerShell as an alias for Get-Content.

Counting Words

macOS / WSL / Linux

wc -w pride-and-prejudice.txt

PowerShell

(Get-Content pride-and-prejudice.txt | Out-String).Split().Count

Counting Lines

macOS / WSL / Linux

wc -l pride-and-prejudice.txt

PowerShell

(Get-Content pride-and-prejudice.txt).Count

Pride and Prejudice has 14,911 lines.

Searching for Text

macOS / WSL / Linux

grep pride pride-and-prejudice.txt

PowerShell

Select-String "pride" pride-and-prejudice.txt

Search Output

grep output

Counting Matching Lines

How many lines include “pride”?

macOS / WSL / Linux

grep -c pride pride-and-prejudice.txt

PowerShell

(Select-String "pride" pride-and-prejudice.txt).Count

Result: 43 lines

Your turn: How many lines include “prejudice”?

Command Summary

Command What it does
curl / wget Download files from the web
cat Display file contents
wc -w Count words
wc -l Count lines
grep Search for text
grep -c Count matching lines

Introducing Markdown

What do you know about Markdown?

What is Markdown?

  • A plain text file format (.md)
  • Uses symbols to add formatting
  • You’ve already seen it: README.md files!

Like .txt, but with lightweight formatting capabilities.

Creating a Markdown File

touch is310-culture-as-data.md
# OR (PowerShell)
New-Item -ItemType File -Name is310-culture-as-data.md

Open in VS Code and add:

Culture as Data asks how cultural materials, practices, and communities become structured, interpreted, and transformed through data.

Adding Bold Text

Put two asterisks on either side:

**Culture as Data** asks how cultural materials become structured data.

Renders as: Culture as Data asks how cultural materials become structured data.

Adding Italics

Put one asterisk on either side:

**Culture as Data** asks how cultural materials become *structured data*.

Renders as: Culture as Data asks how cultural materials become structured data.

Adding Headings

Put a hashtag in front:

# Welcome to Culture as Data

Different levels:

  • # = Heading 1
  • ## = Heading 2
  • ### = Heading 3

Previewing Markdown in VS Code

Markdown Preview

Click the preview icon in VS Code’s top right corner

Why Markdown? Advantage 1: Sustainability

Plain text is future-proof

  • No license required
  • No special software needed
  • Works forever

Why Markdown? Advantage 2: Platform Agnostic

Can be rendered by any text editor

  • Works on Mac, Windows, Linux
  • Works on web, desktop, mobile
  • No vendor lock-in

Why Markdown? Advantage 3: GitHub Integration

GitHub renders Markdown automatically

  • README.md displays on repository pages
  • Easy to share documentation
  • Integrates with version control

Markdown: A Brief History

Markdown was created by John Gruber with Aaron Swartz in 2004.

Markdown: A Brief History

The goal was to create a file format that was easy to read and write, could be converted into web documents, and could be used by anyone. You can read more about the history of Markdown, in Bednarski, Dawid. “The History of Markdown: A Prelude to the No-Code Movement.” Taskade Blog, March 25, 2022. https://www.taskade.com/blog/markdown-history/.

Swartz, Creative Commons, Access

Aaron Swartz was connected to several open web projects.

  • Markdown
  • RSS
  • Reddit
  • Creative Commons
  • Open access activism

Public Domain vs Licensed Access

Model What changes?
Project Gutenberg Public domain texts, downloadable plain text
Creative Commons Creators keep copyright but allow some reuse
JSTOR Access shaped by vendors, libraries, and licenses

Markdown Flavors

Different Markdown implementations

GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM)

Created by GitHub in 2009

Adds features like:

  • Tables
  • Task lists
  • Syntax highlighting
  • Autolinks

GitHub Flavored Markdown Spec

CommonMark Markdown

CommonMark is another popular Markdown style and improvements to it are discussed in this repository https://github.com/commonmark/commonmark-spec/issues.

Practice Exercise

Currently, your README.md is your first assignment Init IS310 Homework. What are some problems with this approach?

  • README.md should indicate structure of repo, not be one assignment

init_is310

Your first goal is to clean up your repository so that your first homework assignment has its own folder: init_is310.

That folder should contain your initial README.md and any images.

Improve Your README.md

Then create a new README.md file in the root of your is310-coding-assignments repository.

Try adding:

You can use AI tools and the GitHub Markdown Cheatsheet to help you.

Helpful Resources

  • AI tools, if useful
  • VS Code Markdown Preview

Push your changes to GitHub when done!

Homework: Lost & Found in the Cultural Command Line

Why a Cultural Data Maze?

This assignment has two goals:

  1. Explore the cultural framing for your broader topic of interest
  2. See how your group members each approach the same topic differently

Your maze should be themed around your cultural data topic of interest.

Part 1: Build a Maze About Your Cultural Data

Create a command line maze themed around your cultural data topic of interest for your group members to solve! First, you should create a new folder in your is310-coding-assignments repository called command-line-maze. Inside this folder, you should create a maze using directories and files.

Maze Requirements

Your maze should have:

Documentation Required

Include a README.md in your maze folder:

  • Instructions for solving the maze
  • List of commands that might be helpful
  • Your name and maze name as a header

Do NOT zip the README!

Hidden Files on Windows

Dotfiles are hidden by default on Mac/Linux, but not always in PowerShell.

If your maze depends on hidden files, include:

hide-dotfiles.ps1

Zipping Your Maze

Mac/Linux/WSL:

zip -r path/to/your/zip/file path/to/your/directory

PowerShell:

Compress-Archive -Path "path\to\your\directory" -DestinationPath "path\to\your\zip\file"

Submission

  1. Upload zipped maze to your is310-coding-assignments repo
  2. Post link in GitHub Discussion

Need inspiration? Try the example maze

Part 2: Solve Your Group Members’ Mazes

Once your maze is posted, solve at least two mazes from students in your group!

Steps:

  1. Clone their repository
  2. Navigate to the maze folder
  3. Read the README.md (cat README.md)
  4. Unzip the maze
  5. Navigate and solve!

Unzipping

Mac/Linux/WSL:

unzip path/to/your/zip/file -d path/to/your/desired/directory

PowerShell:

Expand-Archive -Path "path\to\your\zip\file" -DestinationPath "path\to\your\desired\directory"

Useful Commands for Solving

Command Use Case
cd Navigate through directories
ls See what’s in each directory
ls -la Find hidden files/directories
cat Read file contents
pwd Check current location

When You Solve It

For each of the two mazes you solve:

  1. Reply to their discussion post
  2. Post a screenshot of your solved maze
  3. Let them know you were successful!

Pay attention to how your group members framed their cultural data topic!

Additional Resources

Command Line

  1. Introduction to the Bash Command Line - Programming Historian
  2. Bash Basics Part 1
  3. Beginner’s Guide to the Bash Terminal
  4. The Most Important Thing You’ll Learn in the Command Line
  5. CodeAcademy Command Line Course
  6. Shell Scripting Tutorial

Questions?

Remember:

  • Files = collections of data with extensions
  • Plain text = portable, sustainable format
  • Markdown = plain text with formatting
  • Use curl/wget, cat, wc, grep for text work

See also: Command Line Cheatsheet