AIC Holds Workshop “Befriending the Black Screen”

　On Monday, June 30, 2025, AIC held a workshop titled “Befriending the Black Screen.” The workshop is tailored for those who have never used the terminal application before or who only have a vague understanding of its operation although they use it from time to time. The goal of this workshop is to equip such individuals with the basic skills to operate a computer directly.

　At the start of the course, instructors explained what the terminal is and the types of functions it performs, and also provided basic knowledge such as file management and how commands work in an easy-to-understand manner. In addition, they also touched on the advantages of the terminal and gave examples of its practical application, providing a comprehensive summary of the functions it performs in programming and data analysis.

　During the hands-on exercise segment, students were able to practice entering commands on their own computers, trying their hand at directory operation and file management, as well as making use of pipe and redirection commands. Instructors also endeavored to make it easier for students to grasp the operation of each command by making comparisons between commands in Windows and macOS. Students learned how to use eight basic commands (pwd, cd, ls, rm, mkdir, mv, cp, cat) and the text editor, nano. At the end, students practiced executing a “Hello, World!” program in a shell script using nano. AIC believes that this initiative has enabled our students to take a solid step forward from being complete beginners to having gained a firm understanding of the computer system and how to operate it.

　Skills in working with command line interfaces such as the terminal are an important foundation for operating not only personal computers but also for working with IT assets such as cloud computing environments and laboratory servers. AIC hopes that this workshop will serve as a catalyst to spur the participants on to further learning and practice in programming.

Workshop Training Team

Kanato Takeuchi
Second-year master’s student, School of Fundamental Science and Technology, Graduate School of Science and Technology