The 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
• still has trouble with typing <RETURN> after each line of input

The Novice

• knows that 'ls' will produce a directory
• 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 much

The 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 on how to read the news

The Knowledgable User

• uses nroff with no trouble and is beginning to use tbl and eqn
• uses grep to search for fixed strings
• has figured out that mv(1) will move directories
• has learned that 'learn' doesn't help
• somebody has shown him to write C programs
• once used sed to make some text substitutions
• has seen dbx used but does not use it himself
• thinks that make is only for wimps

The Expert

• uses sed when necessary
• uses macro's in vi, uses ex when necessary
• posts news at every possible opportunity
• writes csh scripts occasionaly
• writes C programs using vi and compile with cc
• has figured out what && and || are for
• thinks that human history has started with !h

The Hacker

• uses sed and awk with comfort
• uses undocumented features of vi
• writes 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
• writes scripts for the Bourne Shell
• knows how to install bug fixes

The Guru

• uses m4 and lex with comfort
• writes assembly code with 'cat >'
• uses adb on the kernel while the system is loaded
• customizes utilities by patching the source
• reads device driver source with breakfast
• can answer any UNIX question after a little thought
• uses make for anything that requires two or more distinct commands to achive
• has learned how to breach security but no longer needs to try

The Wizzard

• writes device drivers with 'cat >'
• fixes bugs by patching the binaries
• can answer questions before you ask him
• writes his own troff macro packages
• is on first-name basis with Ken, Dennis and Bill

By Olle Johansson