Table of Contents
Introduction to Shell for (Data) Scientists
Level up your shell skills in one morning
Sunday, Feb 1, 2026 · 9:00 am - 1:00 pm · Building 1, Level 2, MPR (Desert Side)
Date & Venue
- Thursday, Feb 05, 2026
- 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
- Building 1, Level 2, Multi-purpose Room (MPR) (Desert Side)
Didier Barradas Bautista
Visualization Core Laboratory
Workshop Materials
- Slides: Open slides
- Etherpad: Live notes
How to Prepare
- Shell novice tutorial: read here
- Binder: launch Binder
- Classhub access: open Classhub (requires GitHub account)
_KAUSTians: create your GitHub account, then request access here._
What You'll Learn
- Navigate and manage files quickly
- Chain commands with pipes and filters
- Automate repeat tasks with loops
- Run workflows on KAUST clusters and the cloud
Overview
The Unix shell has been around longer than most of its users have been alive. It has survived so long because it is a power tool that allows people to do complex things with just a few keystrokes. More importantly, it helps them combine existing programs in new ways and automate repetitive tasks so they are not typing the same things repeatedly. Using the shell is fundamental to using a wide range of other powerful tools and computing resources with clusters locally at KAUST (Ibex, Nesser, Shaheen, etc.) or in the cloud (GCP, AWS, Azure).
This hands-on lesson is part of the Introduction to Data Science Workshop Series offered by KVL as part of our ongoing efforts to build core data science skills capacity both at KAUST and within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Questions? Email the team.
Who Should Attend?
Graduate students and researchers; no prior shell experience required.
Agenda
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 09:00 | Navigating files and directories |
| 09:30 | Working with files and directories |
| 10:00 | Pipes and filters |
| 11:00 | Loops |
| 12:00 | Shell scripting |