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Perl (5). It's an incredibly capable scripting language, many things essential for Shell programming are much better integrated than in Python (e.g. regular exp
by ThePhysicist 6y ago
Perl (5). It's an incredibly capable scripting language, many things essential for Shell programming are much better integrated than in Python (e.g. regular expressions). It gets a lot of hate these days but it's still a damn fine language and perfectly suited to shell programming (and larger projects).
- lordgroff 6y agoOne of the things about Perl is that I can't quite believe myself how far it has fallen. I was never a Perl monk by any means but I knew enough to get by. And why did I not even think about it? I haven't coded Perl in years, but if my memory serves me correctly, bundling extra dependencies in Perl was a heck of a lot less painful than Python too.
- ksherlock 6y agoWhat dependencies? OP wants to replace a bash/sh script, not left pad a string.
- ThePhysicist 6y agoYes, Perl's package ecosystem CPAN (the "Comprehensive Perl Archive Network") was lightyears ahead of other systems at the time (late 90s / early 2000s), it provided modules for everything, which made you so incredibly productive. You need a DNS library? Just go to CPAN. CGI functionality? CPAN. Parsing some obscure file format? CPAN. Really sad it lost so much traction in the last decade, I partially blame it on the failed Perl6 endeavour. I also mostly use Python these days but looking at my old Perl scripts Python really doesn't come close in terms of succintness.