Chapter 30. Shell Programming

Shell programming? I can hear it now. “Barr, you’re a lunatic! This time you’ve gone too far! Noobies will never, ever, under any circumstances, grok shell programming!”

I don’t blame them for feeling that way. I was a doubter myself until I saw it with my own eyes. But because I have seen it, and others have as well, in the final chapter of the In the Shell section, we’re going to jump in the middle of that pond and see who can swim and who can’t.

Several years ago the same argument was raging in the Austin LUG. The LUG was going to provide instructors for an adult continuing education class at a local high school.

The students would be motivated individuals, and new to computers in general, not just to Linux. Most ...

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