I understand your point about being able to write proper bash scripts. On the one hand, I never use Java as my shell, but I am able to write proper Java progra

I understand your point about being able to write proper bash scripts. On the one hand, I never use Java as my shell, but I am able to write proper Java programs just fine; why should bash be different? On the other hand, I've been using Bourne-ish shells (mostly bash with short bouts of zsh) for twenty-plus years and I have no clue about arrays. (I know the difference between "$@" and "$*" (including the quotes), but that's it.) Now I have been using fish for a year or so, and I also have no clue about arrays in fish... :-)