Python vs Bash

I think most of the basic and admin scripts of a linux are written in shell, so if you want to manage a linux box you must know bash. If you have a special environment already available you would need to learn the language used by that system (for example gnome applets are partially implemented in python).

Actually, I think that you will find that high-level languages (Ruby, Perl, Python, even PHP sometimes) are used quite commonly for these tasks ... because the scripting language in Bash is really not designed to be a programming language. Nor does it need to be. Thanks to #!shebang, you can write a command in any language you please, and no one will know or care. Choosing what is "the best all around tool to use for this job" is a fundamental first-decision. You have "an embarrassment of riches" to choose from. There are no brownie-points to be earned for going a hundred miles on a pogo stick instead of taking the freeway ... even if you "succeed."

Originally Posted by sundialsvcs Actually, I think that you will find that high-level languages (Ruby, Perl, Python, even PHP sometimes) are used quite commonly for these tasks ... because the scripting language in Bash is really not designed to be a programming language. Nor does it need to be. Thanks to #!shebang, you can write a command in any language you please, and no one will know or care. Choosing what is "the best all around tool to use for this job" is a fundamental first-decision. You have "an embarrassment of riches" to choose from. There are no brownie-points to be earned for going a hundred miles on a pogo stick instead of taking the freeway ... even if you "succeed."

great advice thanks python it is...

It's not really a sensible question.

Q: "what is better, a screwdriver or a hammer?"

A: It depends on the job.



bash is rubbish for scripting anyway, use mksh

;-)

Originally Posted by bigearsbilly It's not really a sensible question. Q: "what is better, a screwdriver or a hammer?" A: It depends on the job. bash is rubbish for scripting anyway, use mksh ;-)

You gave the best answer of all... Always comes from the FreeBSD guys. Maybe I should switch my OS LOL. The ZFS is very tempting. The only thing that worries me is my hardware maybe I should set up a VM and chek it out. Also I like command line. Thats why I use Slackware and FreeBSD is also command line power user friendly. (Yes I know off topic). But yea just like you said "screw driver and hammer". I just wished to see more "FreeBSD jobs" as opposed to "redhat" everywhere.

You should should learn both. Python is an easy language to learn and teaches you OOP that you will not get with BASH.

Originally Posted by tangle You should should learn both. Python is an easy language to learn and teaches you OOP that you will not get with BASH.

Yea, I am thinking some Basic Bash then Python.

Originally Posted by Mercury305 I just wished to see more "FreeBSD jobs" as opposed to "redhat" everywhere.

Tell me about it! Redhat microsoft wannabees.


It's a shame because unix is all fragmented again like in the bad old days.

There's no "Red Hat vs. BSD vs. (anything_at_all)" actually going on here.

The bottom line is that Unix/Linux gives you "an embarrassment of riches" with regards to the programming power-tools that you can use. Therefore, on-the-job you can fully expect to find many of these languages simultaneously in use. I happen to be a student of programming languages anyhow, and it has served me well. (For example, when presented with a massive logic-problem as part of being first-to-find on a Terracaching (GPS treasure-hunt) puzzle, I whipped up a GNU Prolog program to solve it. Sudoku problems are a snap.)

Now, you don't have to be a "walking expert" on everything, and you really can't be. But what you certainly can and should do is to make it your business to familiarize yourself with all of the contents of your system's (very extensive) tool chest. Know what's installed. Make it your business to have picked-up the tool, hefted it in your hands a few times to feel its weight, and to have located and perused the associated web sites. Eventually, you're going to run into a script in "a strange language," but it's not so strange... come to think of it, you've seen it before. You're going to encounter some problem, and it's going to remind you of something.