Skip to content

Explicit introduction of stdin, stdout (and maybe stderr) #1516

@katrinabrock

Description

@katrinabrock

How could the content be improved?

Current state

From what I can tell, the term "standard output" is first used here:

https://github.com/swcarpentry/shell-novice/blob/main/episodes/04-pipefilter.md?plain=1#L463

but the term is not explained. "Standard input" as a term is first used in the following section, but it's referenced earlier (L95).

"Standard error" from what I can tell is not introduced. I think it would be worthwhile to alert learners to its existence. I remember when I was first learning shell (not through carpentries) being confused why sometimes > or >> didn't seem to redirect my output. The text I wanted to redirect was actually going to std error.

Suggested changes

  • Introduce the term "standard input" in or near the section "Why Isn't It Doing Anything?"
  • Introduce the term "standard output" in or near the section "Capturing output from commands"
  • Introduce the concept (and term) of standard error somewhere. Maybe towards the end of episode 4.

Which part of the content does your suggestion apply to?

https://github.com/swcarpentry/shell-novice/blob/main/episodes/04-pipefilter.md

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    No labels
    No labels

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions