Talk:Shell (computing)

Etymology
What would be really cool would be if someone found out why a Shell is called "shell". Does it have sth. to do with real ocean shells? I found nothing about that in the net yet.--Darkstar
 * Because it's a "shell" over the operating system. Dysprosia 20:40, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)


 * Its a nut annalogy. The shell of a nut is the bit you see. Inside is the kernel which is also the inside of a nut, the bit you eat. thomashauk 19:45, 18 Jun 2007 (UTC)

Design and goals claims
The claims that "The design of a shell is guided by cognitive ergonomics and the goal is to achieve the best workflow" were introduced in 2014 but without citations to support them. As I remarked in my comment to my requests for citations, I don't think Thompson, Ritchie, Bourne or Joy were thinking about cognitive ergonomics and best workflow when they invented their shells. I think they were simply trying to create the thinnest possible layers between the user and operating system. Msnicki (talk) 12:10, 4 June 2018 (UTC)

Nothing on subshell ?
Or child process or Spawn (computing) ? &mdash;Jerome Potts (talk) 10:28, 11 February 2021 (UTC)

DOS and MS-DOS
@Appsoft4 This section focuses on mainly one shell in specific, cites few sources, and generally doesn't present a neutral POV, so I have removed it. Feel free to rewrite the section or contest this TappyTurtle  (talk • contribs) 03:00, 4 March 2024 (UTC)