[ILUG] Bash me up

[Brian Foster]

  | From: Brian Foster <blf at blf.utvinternet.ie>
  | Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2005 11:49:25 +0200
  |  > From: Karl Carlile <futurus at eircom.net>
  |  > Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 21:13:28 +0100
  |  > 
  |  > I have been seriously applying myself to BASH [ ... ]
  |  > Finally are there no online texts that pose problems for
  |  > BASH students so that  they can use their knowledge and
  |  > skill to solve them using BASH.
  | 
  | sorry, no idea here (at least, not about on-line
  | texts-with-exercises).  there _are_ some good hardcopy
  | books with exercises about shell scripting.  (thee one
  | I am thinking of especially is, AFAICR, at work, so I
  | cannot provide a reference until next week [ ... ])

 still cannot find it, but I was able to dig up the info
 with the help of Google™:

   Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike
   The UNIX Programming Environment (1st Edition)
   Prentice Hall, ISBN 013937681X, published 1984

    “Designed for first-time and experienced users,
     this book describes the UNIX? programming environment
     and philosophy in detail.  Readers will gain an
     understanding not only of how to use the system,
     its components, and the programs, but also how these
     fit into the total environment.”

 whilst it is an older book, it does what it says on the
 tin.  IIRC, many of the examples and exercises are shell
 scripts, using a generic Bourne-ish shell, and hence do
 apply to and work with bash(1), very probably without
 any changes.

 AFAICR, the main caveat is shell functions and arrays
 are not used (because at the time the book was published,
 both were not available in many of the then-current
 Bourne-ish shells).  of the two, arrays are the least
 obvious (and less commonly used despite being extremely
 useful), whilst `bash' functions are straightforward
 (albeit perhaps not as well-thought out as Korn
 functions  ;-\  ).

 however, given that the book is not about the shell
 or scripting per se, but about _using_ a *ix system
 and the importance of the shell, it may nonetheless
 be very much what is wanted.  recommended, if you
 can find a copy (Google suggests copies can be easily
 found, and the book _may_ even still be in print?).

cheers!
	-blf-
-- 
Experienced (20+ yrs) kernel/software Eng: | Brian Foster   Montpellier,
 • Unix, embedded, &tc;  • Linux;  • doc;  | blf at utvinternet.ie   FRANCE
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