Scripting alternatives to Bash shell scripts

scriptingunix

I have just migrated to a UNIX workstation. My memory of Bash shell scripts has faded since school and I find the syntax to be highly confusing. I am wondering what other scripting languages are used to automate tasks. The two most popular ones that I have heard of are Perl and Python.

  1. Which scripting language is most widely used by real world shops ?
  2. Which scripting language most closely resembles C/C++ syntax ?
  3. Is there another scripting language that I am not aware of ?

Best Answer

To some degree it's a matter of personal preference. Perl and Python are definitely up there in terms of popularity.

To answer two of your three questions, though:

  1. I would guess that bash is most widely used, probably followed by perl. Just guessing though, dunno if anyone has done a survey. :)
  2. There are bazillions of scripting languages out there. :)

My recommendation is Python though. It's easy to read and write, immensely powerful, and there are tons of useful resources on the web for learning it, not to mention code that you can copy and re-purpose.

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