Here is the official manual page for Basic Package Management. No blog post necessary. This covers the majority of it, but I’d say if you read the entire section on Package Management, then you’ll get an idea of how it works and be able to install, update and uninstall things (as well as a bit more).
Also, there is no “right way”. What I suggested was the way to get parity with standard package managers. There are many different ways to use it, because it is a very flexible tool. There’s no reason to learn every single one to get started with it.
Yes, this is what I tried too. What you describe as “hands on” is precisely what my original complaint is about. It was even more difficult (impossible?) for me due to the case-sensitive FS setting being enabled on my Mac.
Everything about first contact with Nix is off putting. I really wish it weren’t so :/
https://nixos.org/manual/nix/stable/package-management/basic...
Also, there is no “right way”. What I suggested was the way to get parity with standard package managers. There are many different ways to use it, because it is a very flexible tool. There’s no reason to learn every single one to get started with it.