08-Start-Building.Rmd

# Start Building

## Next Steps

We've reached the end of this book, which means that you now have a formidable
foundation in using Unix. Congratulations! As the title of this book suggests
Unix serves mostly as a workbench - a set of tools for building amazing digital
creations. However, what you can create with Unix is usually not made out of
Unix's constituent parts. You might use a hammer and saw to build a good
birdhouse, but the birdhouse itself isn't made out of hammers. Working knowledge
of Unix is best complemented by knowing at least one other programming language.
Here are a few suggestions about how you can continue your computing and
programming education.

[**Python**](https://www.python.org/) is an approachable and essential language
for anyone interested in computing. If you don't have any programming experience
outside of this book, I very highly recommend learning Python. My favorite book
on the subject is [Learn Python the Hard Way](https://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/)
by Zed Shaw. Philip Guo's [Python Tutor](http://pythontutor.com/) allows you to
visualize how Python is working under-the-hood, which allows you to develop a
better intuition about the code you're writing. The pairing of those two
resources is currently the best way to learn how to write software outside of
formal university or corporate training. Once you have some Python experience
you can try building your own HTTP API with [Flask](http://flask.pocoo.org/).

[**R**](https://www.r-project.org/) is a general purpose programming language
designed for folks who are interested in data science, analysis, modeling, and
visualization. R is also fantastic for making digital documents: this book was
created with R! If you want to get started with R I recommend the book 
[R Programming for Data Science](https://leanpub.com/rprogramming), the
[Swirl](http://swirlstats.com/) software package, and the interactive R
tutorial website called [DataCamp](https://www.datacamp.com/).

[**JavaScript**](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript) is 
the main language that powers the internet and it forms the backbone of web
application programming. The Mozilla Development Network has 
[wonderful tutorials](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Tutorials)
about HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Usually you use JavaScript to manipulate
HTML and CSS, so learning about all three is important! I also recommend
[NodeSchool](https://nodeschool.io/) for purely learning about JavaScript with
Unix.

## Giving Feedback

Thank you so much for reading this book! If you'd like to discuss the book or
you have any feedback I would love to hear from you. The best way to contact me
is [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/seankross).

Now that you know how to use Git and GitHub you can submit changes that you
think should be made to this book including fixing typos and correcting errors.
You can find the repository for this book
[here](https://github.com/seankross/the-unix-workbench). Fork the repository,
and make your changes to the appropriate `.Rmd` file (just treat it like a
regular Markdown file). Add, commit, and push your changes, then send me a pull
request! While you're on the GitHub if you wouldn't mind giving this book's
repository a [**Star**](https://github.com/seankross/the-unix-workbench) I 
would really appreciate it so that others can find this book more easily.

## Using this Book

This book is released under a [CC0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) 
license, meaning that it is dedicated to the public domain. If you think this
book is worth paying for or you want to support the creation of more open source 
educational materials then consider buying the book 
on [Leanpub](https://leanpub.com/unix) where you are free to pay 
what you want, or send me a few dollars via [PayPal](https://www.paypal.me/seankross/5).

If you use this book as part of a course or in any other setting please let me
know!