For this article, I thought it would be beneficial to go back to some basics of shell scripting and look at how functions work. Most script writers probably eschew using functions because it's a bit ...

Shell scripting is one of those skills that are absolutely invaluable on especially UNIX and BSD-based systems like the BSDs, the two zillion Linux distributions as well as MacOS. Yet not every shell ...

The first software that I was actually paid to develop was a 2-page shell script that prompted the user for a dozen or so pieces of information, before launching a set of cooperating processes. Those ...

Once you’ve gained a solid understanding of Linux and mastered the various commands available, your next big win comes in the form of shell functions. Code wrapped in a function can be reused by your ...

Computerworld is undertaking a series of investigations into the most widely-used programming languages. Previously we have spoken to Alfred v. Aho of , S. Tucker Taft on the , Microsoft about its ...

It’s easy to take the Unix command line for granted. That is, it’s easy to get used to typing in commands and getting responses without thinking very much about how the system determines what command ...