When I was introduced to Unix in 1990, it was still the domain of multiuser systems and high-end workstations. Even the i386 system I started with had 12 users logging on concurrently through serial terminals. I had remote access through a blazingly fast 1200 bps modem. Things were changing by the mid-1990s, when systems using the Linux kernel, integrated with GNU utilities and the X Window System, provided a viable alternative to Microsoft Windows. At the same time, computers with the power, memory, and hard drive space to run it came within reach of an individual's pocketbook. The Internet...
When I was introduced to Unix in 1990, it was still the domain of multiuser systems and high-end workstations. Even the i386 system I started with had...
Introduction Although most users think of the shell as an interactive command interpreter, it is really a programming language in which each statement runs a command. Because it must satisfy both the interactive and programming aspects of command execution, it is a strange language, shaped as much by history as by design. Brian Kernighan and Rob Pike, The UNIX Programming Environment, Prentice-Hall, 1984 The shell is a programming language. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The shell is not just glue that sticks bits together. The shell is a lot more than a tool that runs other tools. The...
Introduction Although most users think of the shell as an interactive command interpreter, it is really a programming language in which each statement...
