Correct Bash and shell script variable capitalization

Question

I run across many shell scripts with variables in all caps, and I\'ve always thought that there is a severe misunderstanding with that. My understanding is that, by convent

Answer 1

Actually, the term "environment variables" seems to be of fairly recent coinage. Kernighan and Pike in their classic book "The UNIX Programming Environment", published in 1984, speak only of "shell variables" - there is not even an entry for "environment" in the index!