[comp.sys.sgi] Korn shell vs tcsh shell

Dan Karron@UCBVAX.BERKELEY.EDU (04/10/91)

How does the Korn shell, which costs money, compare to the tcsh shell, which
is free ? What does each do that the other doesn't ?


>Just a short plea to the folks at SGI:
>Please consider including ksh as one of the standard shells.
>I know the AT&T license may cost a few bucks, but it's money well spent.
>-- 
>Vincent Fox (That's Mr. Bucko to you)|"The bear and Carl lived together in the
>Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA             |cave for several years until, one day, th
e
>SR-71: gt1111a@prism.gatech.edu      |true savagery of Nature being unleashed,
>Pony Express:...!gatech!prism!gt1111a|Carl killed and ate him."    -Gary Larson
>
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sweetmr@SCT60A.SUNYCT.EDU (michael sweet) (04/10/91)

The Kron shell has functions; this means shell programmers can have the
features of a real language, so they can write large shell programs that
run *really* slow...  Here at school, someone actually suggested that the
school registration system (classes and such) be written in Korn shell!
(he was seriously considered by the administration, too!)

 -Mike

pdc@lunch.wpd.sgi.com (Paul Close) (04/11/91)

karron@cmcl2.nyu.edu (Dan Karron) writes:
>How does the Korn shell, which costs money, compare to the tcsh shell, which
>is free ? What does each do that the other doesn't ?

The main difference is that the Korn shell is Bourne shell based, while tcsh
is csh based.  They both allow interactive command line editing, which is
their main bit of "value added" over the shells they are respectively based
on.  I'm not aware of any huge functionality gaps that exist between the two
shells.  I'm a former ksh user and current tcsh user, so I've experienced
both.  I use tcsh because I find csh easier to get by with than sh, which
are the two "stock" shells if I'm on a foreign system.
--
Paul Close	     pdc@sgi.com	   ...!{ames, decwrl, uunet}!sgi!pdc

    Oh, no!  You walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue.