The Command Line Crash Course - Zed Shaw

This is a mini-book that teaches you Unix or Windows command line skills. Unlike the "Learn The Hard Way" series, this crash course is designed to get you mostly capable in a few hours to a few days. It has little explanation and focuses more on doing a small set of commands until you remember them. If you want to learn programming but can't get past using the command line, then this book will get you over that hump quickly. You won't be a grand master, but you'll be at least able to do the very basics.