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The Terminal

A text window where you control your computer by typing commands. Instead of clicking icons and menus, you type instructions directly and the computer responds — instantly, precisely, and without any hand-holding.

Why it matters on this course​

You will use the terminal every single day. Installing tools, running code, saving your work with Git — almost everything on this course happens through it. The sooner it feels normal, the easier everything else becomes.

The good news: you do not need to memorise hundreds of commands. You will learn maybe ten or fifteen to start with, and that covers most of what you will ever need as a beginner.

How it works (in plain terms)​

Think of the terminal as a very direct conversation with your computer. You type a command, press Enter, and the computer does it — no confirmation screens, no "are you sure?" popups (usually). It just acts.

Every command follows roughly the same pattern:

the-command  what-to-act-on  optional-extras

For example:

mkdir my-project

That tells the computer: "make a new folder called my-project." mkdir is the command, my-project is what it acts on.

The terminal shows you where you are on your computer — your current folder — at all times. This is called the working directory. Most beginner mistakes happen from being in the wrong folder, so always check where you are with pwd (print working directory).

Getting started​

On a Mac, the terminal is already installed. To open it:

  1. Press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight
  2. Type Terminal and press Enter

That is it. A dark window will appear with a blinking cursor. You are ready.

Try your first command — ask the computer where you are:

pwd

You should see something like /Users/yourname. That is your home folder.

Watch-outs​

  • Typos matter a lot. The terminal does not guess what you meant. mkdir works; mkdr does nothing. If a command is not working, check your spelling first.
  • It looks scarier than it is. A wall of text after a command is usually fine — it is just the computer telling you what it did. Red text or the word "error" means something went wrong.
  • You cannot always undo. Unlike dragging a file to the Bin, some terminal commands (like deleting files) are permanent. You will learn which ones to be careful with as you go.
  • Capital letters matter. Documents and documents are different folder names on a Mac.

Good resources​

  • Apple's Terminal User Guide — official Apple docs, good for reference
  • Bash in 100 Seconds — Fireship's quick intro to the shell and how it all fits together: