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Shell scripting is a powerful way to automate tasks on your computer.
A shell is a command interpreter that exposes an interface to the underlying operating system. It allows you to execute operations using text and commands, and it provides advanced features like creating scripts.
Shells let you perform things in a more optimized way than a GUI (Graphical User Interface) could ever possibly let you do. Command line tools can offer many different configuration options without being too complex to use.
The terminal is not just for programmers. It’s essential for every professional computer user, because it unlocks things that are impossible to do with a GUI.
In this unit, you’ll learn:
- Different types of shells (Bash, Zsh, Fish)
- How to navigate the filesystem and run commands
- How to write shell scripts to automate tasks
- Working with variables and environment variables
- Loops, arrays, and functions
- Creating aliases for frequently used commands
- Tips and tricks for daily shell usage
Shell scripting is one of the tools you’d better know, at least know how to read a program when you see it, and the goodies it can bring in your day to day work.
The terminal is also the way you access a server. You can create a VPS server on Amazon or DigitalOcean, and access it using SSH, the secure protocol to connect to a remote shell.