Word expansion supports POSIX shell interactivity

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

The POSIX shell is the standard tool to deploy, control, and maintain systems of all kinds; the shell is used on a sliding scale from one-off commands in an interactive mode all the way to complex scripts managing, e.g., system boot sequences. For all of its utility, the POSIX shell is feared and maligned as a programming language: the shell is feared because of its incredible power, where a single command can destroy not just local but also remote systems; the shell is maligned because its semantics are non-standard, using word expansion where other languages would use evaluation. I conjecture that word expansion is in fact an essential piece of the POSIX shell's interactivity; word expansion is well adapted to the shell's use cases and contributes critically to the shell's interactive feel.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProgramming 2018 Companion - Conference Companion of the 2nd International Conference on Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming
EditorsJennifer B. Sartor, Stefan Marr
Pages153-160
Number of pages8
DOIs
StatePublished - 9 Apr 2018
Event2nd International Conference on Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming, Programming 2018 - Nice, France
Duration: 9 Apr 201812 Apr 2018

Publication series

NameACM International Conference Proceeding Series
VolumePart F137691

Conference

Conference2nd International Conference on Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming, Programming 2018
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityNice
Period9/04/1812/04/18

Keywords

  • Command line interface
  • Evaluation
  • Interactive programming
  • Splicing
  • String manipulation
  • word expansion

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