Shell
1. <operating system> (Originally from
Multics, widely propagated via
Unix) The
command interpreter used to pass commands to an
operating system; so called because it is the part of the operating system that interfaces with the outside world.
The commonest Unix shells are the c shell (
csh) and the Bourne shell (
sh).
2. (Or "wrapper") Any interface program that mediates access to a special resource or
server for convenience, efficiency, or security reasons; for this meaning, the usage is usually "a shell around" whatever.
[
Jargon File]
