How to demystify linux?

Okay so how do the expert users of linux learn which file to edit to make which function to work, I mean what language are all those files are written in and where do they get to know about them?

 

the files are usually written in english and we(them) live by the phrase "google is your friend" and look it up there is very good documentation on linux as a whole not only on the internet but also with the "man" command in the CLI. There as several guides avialable for sale as very THICK books for people who want a "foolproof" way of doing it or you can take it fault as it comes and google it up and after awhile it sticks and one knows what to edit i have been using linux for about a year know and while i feel like i know alot about it theres rarely a day that goes by when i dont learn something new about it

 

INCSlayer has it right on. Comes from wanting to know how to do/change/modify xyz and searching via google, the forums, and IRC channels of your distro du jour. I start with the forum for my distro, sidux, and search in there. When that turns up blank, I ask somebody on IRC about it. They give me a little more information, maybe even a solution, and then I usually know enough to find my answer by google.

Debian and Gentoo both have EXCELLENT on-line manuals and "howtos" that tell you what to do. I haven't seen anything like that for fedora/slack, but it must exist.

 

Ok, so all the files that we edit are basically source codes of the os right? So what language is used to write these files?

 

No, the majority of the files are NOT source code per se, they're rarely written in any sort of programming language, they're just configuration files. It varies from program to program how they're written. As others have already mentioned, there's already tons of good documentation around, look around a little bit, it's not difficult to find (I personally use wikis a lot).

Quite often the configuration file will just be a bunch of lines like,

Code:

"Option"   "Value"

OR

Code:

Option=Value

But again, it varies depending on what you're trying to configure.

As for where they're found, as a general rule, system-wide or default preferences are stored in /etc, and personal user settings are stored as dot-files in your home directory. But, consult Google, wikis, man pages, and other documentation for specifics.

For a specific program, always, always, always run "man <program-name>" in a terminal if you want to figure out how it works, the man pages can be a bit cryptic sometimes, but, for the simpler programs, I find it's often all I need.