Chapter 2
Getting Started
Before you can work through and test the code in this book, you will need to get some kind of Unix-like environment running. Since you are reading this book, it is likely that you already have access to a Unix or Linux system, but this chapter provides an overview of some of the choices available, how to get them, and how to get up and running with your test environment. It might also be worth considering running a virtual machine, or at least creating a separate account on your existing system when working on the code in this book.
Although GNU/Linux and the Bash shell is probably the most common operating system and shell combination currently in use, and that combination is the main focus of this book, there are lots of other operating systems available, and a variety of shells, too. For shell scripting, the choice of operating system does not make a huge difference much of the time, so this chapter focuses more on operating system and editor choices.
