TIP: Use aptsh to quickly access APT

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Of course there are nice aliases, in zsh even with tab-completion, that help you to install, remove/purge, or search for packages. However, if you plan to do an apt-get orgy, I recommend the use af aptsh, which is an APT shell. Easily installed with

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sudo apt-get install aptsh

on all Debian-based distros, you can then run aptsh as root:

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sudo aptsh

From here on, you can use following commands:
ls <term> - search for a package via package name or description
rls <term> - search for a package via package name or description using regex
listfiles <package> - list files inside of a package, tab-completion OK
toupgrade - shows packages that can be upgraded
orphans - shows orphaned libraries (careful with this! better use deborphan/orphaner)
orphans-all - shows orphaned packages (careful with this!)
whatis <package> - shows the description of a file
and of course all other APT typical functions like install, update, dist-upgrade, and so forth.

Give it a try, and be sure to check the manual page (in aptsh enter 'help' and 'help-howto') for more info.