I agree that for the simple job of "start process, maybe echo some stuff", then bash is superior to python. However, my difficulty always arises the moment you

I agree that for the simple job of "start process, maybe echo some stuff", then bash is superior to python. However, my difficulty always arises the moment you want to start writing 'if', or handle some sort of error condition. Once you go down that road, you're into magic switches at the top of your script (which TFA demonstrates aren't well understood), and subtle control issues where bash's flow control doesn't quite do what you think it should, and (for me) this is where bash stops being superior.