Assessment Questions based on (but not completely restricted to):
Concept Map: Command Line parameters(opens in new window)
Novice to Competent
1. How do you access standard usage, parameters and options of a command line program?
2. Which type of inputs to a command line program depend on input order?
Competent to Expert
- What are the benefits/drawbacks of combining multiple single-character options in a single flag?
Give an example.
- Does the operating system have an impact on command line program inputs?
Give an example.
Discussion
*For the novice -> competent questions: *
I would like to verify the user has a sense of where to get help (has many possible answers, cmd -h cmd —help, man cmd etc).
In the second question I would hope to get a sense of the users understanding of the difference between arguments and options.
For the competent -> expert questions:
The first question is pretty open ended, but would give me insight to the breadth of their knowledge of command line programs (which examples would they pick), and a sense of understanding parsing inputs.
The second requires wider domain knowledge and the impact of “special characters” in different platforms (which, as others have also noted, is hard to avoid in expert questions). I recognize this is not specific to just command line programs, and I am assuming expert knowledge has taken a user to different platforms.