[CoLoCo] bash question

[Kevin Fries]

On 08/19/2011 03:46 PM, Neal McBurnett wrote:
> I started doing systems-level stuff in Unix with the shell, awk etc
> also (that being all there was back then besides C).  But it is pretty
> grungy from a modern perspective.  A good investment for your future
> would be learning a real language.  Now I know this is a controversial
> topic, and I don't want to see a flame war or anything, but I suggest
> you look at the options and pick one.
>
> My suggestion is python, since it is widely used for system-level
> stuff (e.g. in Ubuntu) as well as the web, and it is clean and
> powerful.  Alternatives might be Ruby or even Javascript, which has
> its share of server-related applications.  I'd stay away from PHP -
> just too much of a history of insecure and patchy design there.  Perl
> is old-school cool, but inscruitable.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Neal McBurnett                 http://neal.mcburnett.org/

I absolutely agree.  But I also think that you need in modern 
environment to know a min of two languages, and hopefully more.

   * Bash: irreplaceable, need I say more

   * Perl: Great to know, many tools are built in it, great for text 
processing, but falling out of favor quickly.

   * Python: Heir apparent to Perl.  Many new tools are built in it.

   * Ruby: I like this one much better than Python for tools that I 
build.  Many of the libs are newer and has caught fire lately, but may 
be just the latest flash in the pan, or more, who knows.

   * JavaScript: Don't look now, but this one looks to be the tool of 
the future.  Gnome3 is fully scriptable and customizable with JS.  JS 
according to its advocates can even cure cancer.  OK, over the top, but 
a language you will want to know in the future.

There are lots of others, but if you gain minimal proficiency with these 
5 you will be very good for the future.  If you only want two, make sure 
Bash is one of them, and pick another from the list.  All have their 
advantages, and disadvantages (i.e. dbus libs are excellent in Python, 
and sketchy in Ruby; Ruby has fantastic WinRM class lib, and Python's 
sucks).

But the most important part is this... play and enjoy!

Kevin