The shell is a way we have to interface with a computer (i.e., a command-line interface – CLI) and a programming language. This allows users to manage files and folders and automatize repetitive tasks, (=that otherwise could be tedious and time consuming while using a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Often, the shell is the only way we have to interface with some specialised tools, and with high-performance computers (HPC).
There are several shells and the most popular is Bash (Bourne Again SHell, derived from a shell written by Stephen Bourne), which will be used in this workshop.
For successfully using the Unix shell for navigating their system and to carry on their analysis, users will need to learn a few commands (think of these as words in a new language) and this workshop will cover the most common ones. We will also see how to combine them to perform more complex tasks, and how to create scripts (files containing lists of commands) to use them over and over again while ensuring reproducibility.
The workshop is aimed at individuals who have no experience in using the Unix shell, and there are no prerequisites for this workshop.
Lasting three half days (9h in total), this workshop will cover basic concepts, and more in detail, attendees will learn:
