Talk:Bash programming/Introduction

Editorial remark:  Since a great deal of bash (or any) shell programming may be done without invoking the sh-bang idiom, I feel it is entirely inappropriate for the first (or second) lesson in a shell programming course.

If a user needs to learn how to program the shell, a much better first lesson is the function "helloWorld".
 * it captures a command typed at the command line
 * it is more transparent than the sh-bang idiom. every syntactic element has an immediate purpose, the "#!" while necessary in some contexts (python, perl, php) is not an essential shell feature.
 * it saves the lesson of "which shell are you using" to a later and more appropriate context:  moving from your command line to an industrial strength system
 * the function is immediately more extensible (the introduction of positional parameters)
 * it defers the lesson of "what goes in this file" to a more appropriate context: what functions constitute an application


 * Be bold! Implement your suggestion.  -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 20:27, 4 January 2016 (UTC)