| # Nu Fundamentals | |
| This chapter explains some of the fundamentals of the Nushell programming language. | |
| After going through it, you should have an idea how to write simple Nushell programs. | |
| Nushell has a rich type system. | |
| You will find typical data types such as strings or integers and less typical data types, such as cell paths. | |
| Furthermore, one of the defining features of Nushell is the notion of _structured data_ which means that you can organize types into collections: lists, records, or tables. | |
| Contrary to the traditional Unix approach where commands communicate via plain text, Nushell commands communicate via these data types. | |
| All of the above is explained in [Types of Data](types_of_data.md). | |
| [Loading Data](loading_data.md) explains how to read common data formats, such as JSON, into _structured data_. This includes our own "NUON" data format. | |
| Just like Unix shells, Nushell commands can be composed into [pipelines](pipelines.md) to pass and modify a stream of data. | |
| Some data types have interesting features that deserve their own sections: [strings](working_with_strings.md), [lists](working_with_lists.md), and [tables](working_with_tables.md). | |
| Apart from explaining the features, these sections also show how to do some common operations, such as composing strings or updating values in a list. | |
| Finally, [Command Reference](/commands/) lists all the built-in commands with brief descriptions. | |
| Note that you can also access this info from within Nushell using the [`help`](/commands/docs/help.md) command. | |