BASH is the default OS shell for Linux and Mac OS x. BASH can also be used on Windows if cygwin is installed. Cygwin can be downloaded from: [https://cygwin.com/install.html link] Students with a windows computer are requested to install cygwin. A minimal installation + nano should be enough for our purposes. nano is a basic editor, without default syntax highlighting. To install syntax highlighting create a file sh.nanorc in the folder /usr/share/nano Retrieve the code from the 'sh.nanorc' attachment below this text and paste it into the sh.nanorc file Save the file and go to your home directory (cd ~) Create a file called .nanorc containing the text ''include /usr/share/nano/sh.nanorc'' Practices can be found in the BASH Beginners guide by Machtelt Garrels: [http://www.tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/Bash-Beginners-Guide.pdf link]