Articles

Deep dives into the design, features, and philosophy of sh2.

Source Code & Repository

👉 https://github.com/siu-mak/sh2lang

Introduction

Why sh2 exists and how it compares to other tools.

Diff: sh2 vs Bash
- Side-by-side code comparisons showing how sh2 handles common tasks differently (and safer) than Bash.
Bash One-Liners Ironed Out
- How sh2 transforms fragile shell idioms into robust, readable code.
From One-Liner to Tool
- A walkthrough of growing a simple command into a full CLI tool.
Where Bash Still Wins
- Honest assessment of when stick with pure Bash vs switching to sh2.
The Mental Model
- How to think in sh2: separation of concerns, side-effect scoping, and data flow.
Bash vs Python vs sh2
- Choosing the right tool for the job: glue code vs application logic.

Detailed guides for specific language capabilities.

sudo Builtin
- Using the structured sudo(...) wrapper for safe privilege escalation.
confirm Helper
- Interactive prompts and CI/automation handling.
No Implicit Expansion
- The core safety rule: why strings are strict literals.
Named Arguments
- How sh2 uses named parameters for clarity and safety.
Error Handling
- Fail-fast defaults, allow_fail, and try/catch.
Logging & Redirects
- Scoped I/O redirection and structured logging.

Real-world examples and post-mortems.

The Hidden Tax of Reviewing Bash
- Why reviewing shell scripts is hard and how structure helps.
The Dollar Expansion Bug
- An analysis of a common shell bug prevented by sh2 design.
Video Randomizer
- Building a fun, non-trivial tool with sh2.