BnEx

BnEx is a Unix shell that was developed by a group of students at Carnegie Mellon University in the 1970s. It was initially designed to be a command-line interface that was compatible with the existing operating systems at the time. BnEx was notable for its ease of use and its ability to be customized by users.

The BnEx shell was written in the C programming language and was first released in 1976. It quickly gained popularity among Unix users due to its intuitive and user-friendly interface. BnEx was known for its ability to handle multiple commands and syntax, making it a versatile tool for users who needed to perform complex tasks.

One of the key features of BnEx was its ability to be customized using a language called BnEx macros. This allowed users to create custom commands and scripts that could be used to automate tasks and improve productivity. BnEx also had built-in support for jobs and shell variables, making it a powerful tool for users who needed to manage complex shell jobs and scripts.

BnEx was widely used in the 1980s and was a popular choice among Unix users. However, with the release of later versions of Unix and other command-line interfaces, the use of BnEx declined. Despite this, BnEx remains an important part of the history of Unix and continues to be studied by scholars and historians of computer science. Today, BnEx can still be run on many modern computing platforms, including Linux and macOS.