What is bc?

Are you tired of trying to decipher what your developer friends are talking about? Do words like ‘shell scripting’, ‘command line’ and ‘bc‘ leave you feeling confused? Fear not, my friend, for we are here to demystify the mysterious world of bc!

What Does “BC” Stand For?

First things first – let’s define the term. In computer science terms, bc stands for “basic calculator“, which is a tool that comes with pretty much every Unix-based operating system out there.

Now before you roll your eyes and yawn yourself into oblivion at mention of all those nerdy words above, hear me out! Learning about BC could turn out to be extremely helpful in your day-to-day work or personal computing – just imagine winning at quiz nights by showing off this knowledge!

The Origins of Basic Calculator

The development of bc can be traced back to 1970s when its initial version was created by Robert Morris while working on a project called Multics. Although it was meant as a small part of something bigger ,its simplicity led other developers who saw it being used decided that it had potential stand alone use.

Fast forward several years later (bc, still alive!) made its first debut in UNIX System V Release 2 in 1984 underwritten from AT&T.

An Introduction To Preprocessing With Bc

In keeping up with the times and staying relevant through multiple upgrades over the years used as an extra preprocessing utility within Shell Scripts i.e bash/zsh …

Sounds fancy huh?! Well essentially any expression can simply evaluate arithmetic expressions entered either (i) interactively into terminal; or (ii) processed via STDIN-STDOUT pipes where programmers enter equations on one end program spews results on another .

This means no more sloppy calculation mistakes because BC takes care proper operator sequence according to rules of a very consistent mathematical expression order.

A Simple Guide to BC Syntax

To start off, here are some basic things you need to know about bc syntax. Just like any programming language it has its own peculiarities which every user should be aware of before diving into using it:

  • Every statement must end with a semi-colon
  • Variables in bc are declared and assigned values as below:
number = variable;

where number is the value you want to assign and variable is name you give that value

Next up..

Operators Supported by BC: Addition, subtraction & co

BC supports most mathematical operators including addition (+), subtraction (-), division (/) and multiplication () among others. In fact there’s really nothing mind-blowing or out of place here all play by well-known math rulebook – thank goodness!

This means we can perform basic arithmetic operations such as adding 5 + 10, which would result in 15. Guess what? It is possible to express more complex calculations too- say such as calculating square-root under √(math mode).

Phew! Right time for our next sub-header :

Trigonometric Functions And More.

So beyond this – if one wants additional trickier calculation functions e.g Sin , Cosine or Tangent; folks also add extra set (lib package usually within Debian-GNU /Ubuntu environments i.e “bc-multi-scale.” package ,which can then be added onto your already base setup…the fun begins!

Not so hard right ? Yeah well still expecting that a hammer will nail itself down…

Now back on point…Once toggled on (lib installed) several nifty options/features get enabled upon BC execution ninja moves engaged .For example knowing how much VAT tax may impact $30 shopping cart purchase($3 approx)<> OR calculating the right angle to point a bank heist getaway car….It’s all only possible when BC trigonometric functions active.

Why Should You Use Basic Calculator (BC)?

Think of bc as a convenient tool that enables you do arithmetic calculations with ease, from anywhere in your operating system. It can be quite useful especially when writing scripts for automating routine tasks or processing batch data.

Here are some reasons why you should consider using basic calculator:

  • Portability: bc is available on most systems, hence it’s easy to write scripts relying on it.
  • Flexible syntax: Unlike other scripting languages, learning bc doesn’t require any time investment or syntax acquisition–super easy integration!
  • Maintenance and Scalability – Since traditionally Linux distributions utilize command line interfaces, 500 lines of code for automation will still perform just fine!
    Putting things into context now…Say OP wants all images under .jpeg extensions [20 files] moved from home/desktop/ directory to usb drive ,instead running GUI Finder bloatware – bash script with few lines perhaps leverage find & move commands utilizing modification pipe etc then pass-output via key flag symbols inputting path-to-new USB directory handle commands ever so easily…

Tricks And Tips For Effectively Using Bc

If you’ve decided to enter the inner circle of those who use basic calculator there’re several tips & tricks which might enhance your experience whilst adding more pizzazz ! Here’re some top choices :

  1. Show Decimal Places
    By default bc will show results up two decimals after period/full-stop however sometimes one may need expressed digit higher >> add scale=<your desir number> ; tag at beginning 6(12 10) becomes ‘720′ ,however if I say scale=10 first that -5 + l(5) provides approx value like 0.608739or

  2. SAVE Results to a Variable
    If you want to reuse the result of an operation in your basic calculator statements/expressions, then simply assign that value to a variable.

result = (4 5) + 2;

With above line whichever expression generates will permanently rest at (45)+3, and can be used later on if need arise….

In Conclusion

To sum it all up, basic calculator or bc is a fundamental tool for arithmetic calculations in Unix-based systems. Although its usefulness may not compare to more serious calculation engines like MATLAB, it still proves helpful when handling simple or routine tasks that require mathematical computations. Plus as demonstrated previously – sophisticated functionally additions capable of advanced math modeling also available!

So now whenever you meet any tech experts talking about bc don’t feel lost but rather seize opportunity show off newfound knowledge gloriously ! There are plenty more possibilities with bc, so start experimenting today and amaze those painfully pretentious techie friends of yours…

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