The other thing to bear in mind is that it’s undergone literally decades of evolution while still being backwards compatible. The shells weren’t originally int

The other thing to bear in mind is that it’s undergone literally decades of evolution while still being backwards compatible. The shells weren’t originally intended to be Turing complete. They were just a job launcher. What you use today would have been unimaginable when these shells were first designed. Whereas all other programming languages have had a drastically smaller evolution in comparison and yet still had a worse compatibility story. It’s very easy to be critical of the Bourne shell (and compatible shells too) because they are archaic by modern standards. But they weren’t written to solve modern problems. So it’s like looking at a bicycle and complaining how the designers didn’t design a sports car while ignoring the fact that technology didn’t exist and still push bikes are good enough for millions to use daily.