Unix shell programming: The next 50 years

Abstract

The Unix shell is a powerful, ubiquitous, and reviled tool for managing computer systems. The shell has been largely ignored by academia and industry. While many replacement shells have been proposed, the Unix shell persists. Two recent threads of formal and practical research on the shell enable new approaches. We can help manage the shell's essential shortcomings (dynamism, power, and abstruseness) and address its inessential ones. Improving the shell holds much promise for development, ops, and data processing.