Re: [off topic] Learning Shell from an old UNIX book

[matt zagrabelny <z@saturnsys.com>]

> Hi There:
> 
> This message is not debain related, however as this ML is my best source of 
> information, I hope you'll excuse me.
> 
> I want to learn shell programming. Thus I went to my university's library and 
> found a book named "UNIX Shell Programming". The problem is, the book is 
> written on 1988, and covers shell programming on Korn, Bourne and the C Shell 
> on both AT&T System V and Berkely systems ( I guess these two were the most 
> major Unices at the time ). 
> 
> Obviously, I am using Debian GNU/Linux not System V or BSD, and I use BASH. 
> But this is the only book in our library about shell programming. so I 
> wonder:
> 
> 1 ) Can this book be beneficial for me? or is it so obsolete that it is not 
> usefull anymore?
> 
> The book shows examples for all of these tree shells. Therefore I wonder 
> 2 ) Bash is more similar to which one of these Shells? Korn Bourne or C ? 
> 
> 3) What things shall I keep in mind when reading example programs. Do commads 
> on Korn, Bourne and C, usually work on Bash? Or is Bash using a completely 
> diffrent syntax? 

bash is supposed to be compatable with bourne.

setting of environment variables is different.

for c shell:
setenv DISPLAY localhost:0

for bash:
export DISPLAY=localhost:0

things like that.

i would checkout the book and try some examples and see if they hold water.
if they dont, try to foget what you learned.