Zsh, What is it and why should you use it?

What is Zsh?

Zsh, also called Z shell, is a UNIX shell that is built on top of the Bourne shell(macOS default shell), more commonly know as bash. It is essentially the same thing as bash but just has many additional features.

It was initially created by Paul Falstad while he was a student and Princetown University and originally it was created incorporating many useful features from other already present Shells like Bourne-Again Shell (Bash), the Korn Shell (ksh), C-shell (csh), and tcsh. So with that in mind, it does offer some level of compatibility with these mentioned shells, allowing it to have a high user adoption rate.

How does it hold up to bash?

Zsh has plenty of features, some minor tweaks to bash, while there are other major like automatic directory changing by typing the name of said directory, spelling correction and approximate completion, and plugin and theme supports so you can customize you Zsh how you want! However, in our current years, bash isn't being left in the dust either. Both are always in active development because they're open source and in so, keep they fairly close to one another. You can even install oh-my-zsh to manage your zsh configurations, themes, and plugins to customize the appearance and functionality of your shell!

So should I use it?

Zsh has proved itself time and time again that it is an incredibly powerful and fast shell, has tons of add-ons/features/themes/etc to customize it with, and having a user friendly CLI set up. If you as a SWE find yourself doing any sort of activity that requires you to use CLI often enough on your own personal computer, the Zsh would prove to be an incredible quality of life improvement. And who knows, even if you may not like Zsh it may open your eyes to another shell that will scratch that itch you have.

In Conclusion...

Granted, I am still fairly new to Zsh and everything it can do, but I believe that everything it has to offer makes i more than worth the time to install and look around as it has so much to offer and is literally bash but better. I can only implore other people who use CLI frequently to give it a shot or even explore outside of just bash. I hope this blog gave some insight on a different terminal that may or may not change your CLI QoL.

Sources;
https://ohmyz.sh/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z_shell
https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh
https://linuxhandbook.com/why-zsh/
https://www.howtogeek.com/362409/what-is-zsh-and-why-should-you-use-it-instead-of-bash/