Wicked Cool Shell Scripts

by Dave Taylor

Fun and functional Linux, Mac OS X and UNIX shell scripts

The UNIX shell is the main scripting environment of every Linux, Mac OS X and UNIX system, whether a rescued laptop or a million-dollar mainframe. This cookbook of useful, customizable, and fun scripts gives you the tools to solve common Linux, Mac OS X and UNIX problems and personalize your computing environment. Among the more than 100 scripts included are an interactive calculator, a spell checker, a disk backup utility, a weather tracker, and a web logfile analysis tool. The book also teaches you how to write your own sophisticated shell scripts by explaining the syntax and techniques used to build each example scripts. Examples are written in Bourne Shell (sh) syntax.

Genres: Computer Science, Programming, Reference, Technology, Technical, Computers, Software

488 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 2004

About the author

Dave Taylor has been involved with the online world since it was the ARPAnet and is recognized globally as an expert on technical and business topics. He has been published over a thousand times, launched four Internet-related startups, written more than twenty business and technical books and has an MBA and MS Ed.

He runs the popular YouTube consumer electronics review channel AskDaveTaylor, is a columnist for the Boulder Daily Camera and appears in other publications both online and in print. Dave teaches undergrad and graduate courses on marketing, public speaking, film, and media & society at the University of Denver, where he's also a recognized Leader in Teaching Excellence.

Based in beautiful Boulder, Colorado, Dave is an award-winning speaker, sought-after conference and workshop participant, and frequent guest on radio and podcast programs, an active member of his community and father to three young adults who are themselves also avid readers.

You can find Dave online at AskDaveTaylor.com and catch up on his latest film, game, and car reviews at PlanetDave.com.

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Taylor's style. These scripts are not really "wicked cool" anymore (dated), but they are good for showing syntax in context, and for sparking ideas. With a bit of hacking skill, you could put together a simple script to automate some menial task. If you don't already have programming skills, the key is knowing what tools (small programs) are available to you and having a clear idea of what you want to accomplish.

[Marc]

Really good so far. Probably best for intermediate shell scripters, or beginner/intermediate.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm mentioned in this book, helped dave test these scripts on mac, linux, hp-ux and solaris... lots of great scripts and ideas...

[Chris Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did not read every line in the book, but rather dug deep into a few areas of interest to me. This will be a great reference for me plus there are some very useful ready-to-use scripts included.

[Elie De Brauwer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wicked Cool Shell Scripts feel a bit like it missed the opportunity when going to a second edition. For a book updated around 2016 I'd expect much more curl, wget and json handling than lynx for example. Also a lot of these scripts focus on external utilities (the awks and cuts, ...) while some of these activities could also happened in bash itself which feels like a missed opportunity to me. That being said it remains and interesting and entertaining read.