Simple Shell

Problem

Understanding how shells work requires building one from scratch using system calls and process management.

Solution

A minimal Unix shell implementation in C — demonstrates OS-level understanding of process management, system calls, and command parsing.

Architecture

Built on fork/exec/wait system calls with a command parser, built-in command support, and PATH-based external command execution.

Key Features

• Command parsing and tokenization
• Process creation via fork/exec
• Built-in commands (cd, exit, env)
• Signal handling basics

Challenges

Managing child processes, handling signals, and implementing reliable command parsing without memory leaks.

Outcomes

Solid foundation in OS-level programming from the ALX Africa curriculum.