Markdown (optional)

  • Markdown is a lightweight markup language used to create and edit technical documents using plain text and special characters for formatting.

  • Markdown files are converted into HTML by a Markdown parser, which allows browsers to display the content to readers.

  • Bash and ksh are similar shells, with bash being more widely used and therefore easier to troubleshoot.

  • You can learn Markdown through online tutorials like www.markdowntutorial.com and Mastering Markdown.

  • This page is part of the Technical Writing One pre-class work, with options to continue learning through in-class sessions or facilitator guides.

Markdown is a lightweight markup language that many technical professionals use to create and edit technical documents. With Markdown, you write text in a plain text editor (such as vi or Emacs), inserting special characters to create headers, boldface, bullets, and so on. For example, the following example shows a simple technical document formatted with Markdown:

## bash and ksh

**bash** closely resembles an older shell named **ksh**.  The key
*practical* difference between the two shells is as follows:

*  More people know bash than ksh, so it is easier to get help for bash
   problems than ksh problems.

The rendered version of the preceding technical document looks as follows:

bash and ksh

bash closely resembles an older shell named ksh. The key practical difference between the two shells is as follows:

  • More people know bash than ksh, so it is easier to get help for bash problems than ksh problems.

A Markdown parser converts Markdown files into HTML. Browsers can then display the resulting HTML to readers.

We recommend becoming comfortable with Markdown by taking one of the following tutorials:

What's next?

Congratulations: you've completed the pre-class work for Technical Writing One.

If the in-class portion of Technical Writing One is available in your organization, please take it. If you'd like to facilitate the in-class portion of Technical Writing One, see the facilitator's guide.

A quick compilation of the topics covered in Technical Writing One is available on the Summary page.