[LordLandon]

Hey, don't diss nano like that. Try alt+c, or ctrl+g. Looks like you didn't try looking for a solution either (=

First thing you should teach in a class like that is to teach them to fish for tricks in the manpages/docs rather handing them individual tricks throughout.

[6ren]

i.e. teach them how to teach themselves: scan menus, google, ask. http://xkcd.com/627/

[nitrogen]

Unfortunately you can't just point random people to that chart, because there's a reasonable chance they won't know how to read it.

[jdoliner]

Alright, I guess I'm not fully aware of all of Nano's features. And yes, my entire point is that it's much better to teach them to fish for tricks in various places rather than teaching them individual tricks. Also I was only a T.A. in this class (and actually only did grading) so I never got a chance to teach.

[wvoq]

You're there in the lab to see them make these mistakes, but you can't tell them to man nano?

[jdoliner]

No, read the comment you just responded to. I only did grading. It wasn't until I asked a friend of mine who was in the class what he thought of it and he responded: "Line numbers are a bitch" that I discovered what was going on. At which point I mentioned to the professor that she might want to bring up man pages.