---
title: "Developer Talks: How the Command Line Can Empower You (Webinar)"
description: "On 27 November 2018, Eric Fung, a Senior Data Scientist, presented “How the Command Line Can Empower You,” a 45-minute talk followed by 15 minutes of questions and answers. The presentation addresses work that often happens outside an IDE, including interacting with APIs, creating screenshots, and massaging data, and shows how command-line tools can simplify, improve, or automate those tasks. Using real-world examples, Fung covers typing less in the terminal, searching files, manipulating images and JSON files, and generating code automatically without point-and-click interaction. The presentation focuses on software for macOS, while noting that Linux and Windows users can benefit because many mentioned tools are cross-platform; the presentation can be watched online and speaker notes can be downloaded."
---

# Developer Talks: How the Command Line Can Empower You (Webinar)

[Shopify](https://yomu.fyi/company/shopify) · Anita Clarke · Nov 20, 2018

**Type:** Announcement

## Summary

On 27 November 2018, Eric Fung, a Senior Data Scientist, presented “How the Command Line Can Empower You,” a 45-minute talk followed by 15 minutes of questions and answers. The presentation addresses work that often happens outside an IDE, including interacting with APIs, creating screenshots, and massaging data, and shows how command-line tools can simplify, improve, or automate those tasks. Using real-world examples, Fung covers typing less in the terminal, searching files, manipulating images and JSON files, and generating code automatically without point-and-click interaction. The presentation focuses on software for macOS, while noting that Linux and Windows users can benefit because many mentioned tools are cross-platform; the presentation can be watched online and speaker notes can be downloaded.

## Context

Eric Fung presented the talk on 27 November 2018. The event consisted of a 45-minute presentation and 15 minutes of Q&A, focused on macOS software while noting that many of the tools are cross-platform for Linux and Windows users.

## Approach / What changed

The talk uses real-world examples to demonstrate command-line utilities for reducing terminal typing, searching files, manipulating images and JSON files, generating code automatically, and handling work involving APIs, screenshots, and data outside an IDE.

## Takeaways

- Command-line tools can simplify, improve, or automate tasks commonly performed outside an IDE, including API work, screenshot creation, and data manipulation.
- The examples cover terminal shortcuts, file searching, image and JSON manipulation, and automatic code generation without point-and-click interaction.
- Although the presentation focuses on macOS software, many of the mentioned tools are cross-platform and can also benefit Linux and Windows users.

## FAQ

### Which tasks does the presentation demonstrate with command-line tools?

The examples cover working with APIs, creating screenshots, and massaging data. They also show how to type less in the terminal, search files, manipulate images and JSON files, and write code automatically.

### Is the material limited to macOS users?

The presentation focuses on software available for macOS computers. Linux and Windows users can also benefit because many of the tools mentioned are cross-platform.

### How long is the event, and is there a Q&A?

The presentation lasts 45 minutes, followed by 15 minutes dedicated to questions and answers.

**Tags:** [Automation](https://yomu.fyi/topic/automation), [Command Line](https://yomu.fyi/topic/command-line), [macOS](https://yomu.fyi/topic/macos)

- Source: [Shopify](https://shopify.engineering/developer-talks-how-the-command-line-can-empower-you)
- Source URL: https://shopify.engineering/developer-talks-how-the-command-line-can-empower-you
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-09-17T14:06:27.437Z

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