On UNIX-like systems, the shell is a very powerful and universal tool, installed on most systems where other languages might not be as universally available (e.

On UNIX-like systems, the shell is a very powerful and universal tool, installed on most systems where other languages might not be as universally available (e.g embedded systems). I regularly write sophisticated scripts that automate workflows that would otherwise be performed entirely in the shell. Using another language to run complex command line pipelines requires jumping through far too many hoops. I can always uninstall those other tools to get a smaller root filesystem image. Few distributions would survive having the system shell removed. The shell is integral. That said, let me turn the question around: how would you automate shell command pipelines in Python/Julia/whatever and have it turn out as readable and universally accessible for future developers? Amusingly, I feel like the original question could be rephrased as “why speak English? Chinese is more popular”… while standing in Times Square. Sure, you can take the road less traveled, but I think you will find the road steeper and longer.