Programming Language Advice to My Daughter, Part 3: Shell Script *

Classic techniques remain effective.

In this “Programming Language Advice to My Daughter” series:

• Part 1: Ruby

• Part 2: C++

• Part 3: Shell Script *

• Part 4: Java

• Part 5: Wrap-up and FAQ

A shell script is a computer program designed to be run by the Unix/Linux shell, such as the Bourne Again SHell (Bash).

Source: https://x.com/UnixToolTip/status/1892258277884371038

A Story

Many years ago, I was working on a .NET project that required extracting a column of data from a CSV file. A senior .NET contractor confidently said, 'Easy—I’ll build a .NET application with a graphical user interface that lets the user select a CSV file, perform the extraction, and save the output to a file of their choice.' Several other .NET developers nodded in agreement. He went ahead and spent a few hours building it.

I was shocked to hear and see that because this is just a one-line shell script.

For example, to extract the year column in the following CSV file.

The one-line script is: