Ask HN: Best Open Source Beginners Book for learning Shell
Hello, I am just a beginner when it comes to shell programming.
So, which is the best open source book out there for Shell Beginners.
Thanks.
So, which is the best open source book out there for Shell Beginners.
Thanks.
Complete Reference: Bash Reference Manual: http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html
Complete Reference: Harder to find things but you should know your way around it: $ man bash
Intro, Fundamentals: BASH Programming - Introduction HOW-TO: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prog-Intro-HOWTO.html
You'll get here soon enough: Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/
Ideas:
Back a few years or months ago, I tried the most popular books, from Bash Reference Manual that you can find at gnu.org, to other titles available for free at tldp.org, etc and plenty other websites! In my opinion linuxcommand.org is very easy to read and easier to understand!
Also, a few days ago this came up ( explainshell.com ), what this basically does is letting you write a command and it tries to explain it by pointing you the lines from the manual.
Finally, I think what also helps is installing a virtual machine, choose your favourite linux distro, follow tutorials and try to customize it! It takes years to become an expert, so I see nothing wrong if you're ok reading manuals and following tutorials.
Hope this helps!
That was my "free" book recommendation, if you want to buy a "regular" book, then "The Unix Programming Environment" [2] can't be beat. You can find a dirt cheap "low cost edition", or buy it second hand online.