okayokay, we get the idea, it's a kernel not a programming language, but really gamerx, don't you know the difference? it's like saying "ok i know the QE2 is an ocean liner, but i prefer to think of it as a television station". the two things are TOTALLY different. perhaps you mean you think of bash (or whatever shell you use) as a programming language? in this case i can understand what you mean, almost, but bash can run on many operating systems, as can other shells like csh, tcsh, ksh, zsh, ash, sh and others. you can even (by installing the freedos and dosemu packages) get a DOS shell in linux. i can understand why all these could be viewed as programming languages, of course if you wrote a shell script, or batch file as they are called with the DOS shell, they are actually scripting languages, like perl, the difference being that you need to compile a program, whereas you only need to run a script (a script runs from the original source code, a program is a compiled binary).
but as i am saying, your shell is in no way linux. you have probably never interacted more than a few words in total with the actual linux part of your system ever. linux is like the central coordinating part of the brain, the bit that keeps you breathing, stops you shitting yourself and makes you know which way is up and what the difference is between a chair and somebody's lap so you don't get yourself in a total mess. a programming language is like a self help book that lets you understand why you're an angry bastard and deal with why your ex girlfriend thinks you're inconsiderate even when you offered to give her back her television after you broke up. here's a helpful diagram which might illustrate it better:
brain <----------------- a very long way -----------------> self help book
kernel<----------------- a very long way -----------------> programming language
that's my two pence worth anyway.
