Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS)

The KISS principle is a great way to approach shell scripting. While it might come across as a bit harsh, the spirit in which it is given is important: it should only be considered great advice. Further advice is given in the Zen of Python, the design principles on which Python rests:

• Simple is better than complex
• Complex is better than complicated
• Readability counts

There are about 17 more aspects in the Zen of Python, but these three are the most relevant for Bash scripting as well. The last one, 'Readability counts', should be obvious by now. However, the first two, 'Simple is better than complex' and 'Complex is better than complicated' are closely related to the KISS principle. Keeping things simple is a great goal, but if that is not possible, a complex solution is always better than a complicated one (no one likes complicated scripts!).

There are a few things you can keep in mind when writing scripts:

• If the solution you're cooking up seems to get very complicated...