“From the end user’s perspective, the shell is the most
important program on the Unix system because it is the user’s
interface to the Unix system kernel. The shell reads and
interpreting strings of characters and words.”
“The shells operate in a simple loop:
1.Accept a command
2.Interpret the command
3.Execute the command
4.Wait for another command”
2.Interpret the command
3.Execute the command
4.Wait for another command”
“The shell displays a prompt, notifying the user that it is
ready to accept a command. It would be nice if you could speak or
type instructions into the computer in some form of natural
language.”
OK, Hal. Sort out my correspondence, throw out anything that is too old, and archive the rest.
“Unfortunately, the shell recognizes a very limited set of
command words, so the user must offer commands in a way that it
understands. This means learning to string odd words and
punctuation together.”