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I think these kinds of generalizations are pretty absurd, as I can immediately think of counterexamples. Bourne shell (and by extension, bash) is by far one of

I think these kinds of generalizations are pretty absurd, as I can immediately think of counterexamples. Bourne shell (and by extension, bash) is by far one of the most common pieces of software used in the world, and has been hated by virtually everyone since it's release, including admissions by its own author that it is an inferior shell. It's certainly one of the most-widely adopted pieces of software in history; no shell comes anywhere close except maybe Microsoft DOS/cmd during a small time window.

bfox 5y ago
Context matters, no? I didn't say bash was inferior to other Bourne-alike shells. I said Bourne-alike shells all suffer from a common problem - they have to implement a "language" that has inconsistencies in it. A lot of people love bash, and a lot of people bash bash, but I'm personally aware that not "virtually everyone" hates it.
drewcoo 5y ago
I also think it's silly, but . . . A generalization is not the same as a universal claim, which can be disproved with a single exception. A generalization is about the shape of some statistical cloud. We have to show that it's not shaped that way to disprove it. So find enough exceptions and we're there. But how many are enough? It's usually easiest (imho) to disprove these by showing a different generalization that is true, but conflicts with the given one.
- pagutierrezn 5y ago
  I love the way you've formulated that concept. Thanks.
deleted 5y ago
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demouser345 5y ago
I made this account to dispute this garbage. No other shell or programming language comes close out of the box at the versatility that Bash has. I say this after having searched high and low for shell programming languages, maintaining big bash projects for a multiple organizations. There are idiosyncracies to java, c, go and rust too. This monoculture of bash is bad is tiring. Paired with the monoculture of go is the new hotness. I rewrote at 500 line python project in 100 lines of bash for more functionality, but at a cost of more external dependencies but they are system deps with a standard abi without having to deal with python. APL has its strengths where Go/Rust is terrible. Just use the correct tool for the job. And no more of this monoculture. Diverse problems need diverse solutions
numpad0 5y ago
Not sure if that’s working as a counterexample.

bfox 5y ago

Context matters, no? I didn't say bash was inferior to other Bourne-alike shells. I said Bourne-alike shells all suffer from a common problem - they have to implement a "language" that has inconsistencies in it. A lot of people love bash, and a lot of people bash bash, but I'm personally aware that not "virtually everyone" hates it.

drewcoo 5y ago

I also think it's silly, but . . . A generalization is not the same as a universal claim, which can be disproved with a single exception. A generalization is about the shape of some statistical cloud. We have to show that it's not shaped that way to disprove it. So find enough exceptions and we're there. But how many are enough? It's usually easiest (imho) to disprove these by showing a different generalization that is true, but conflicts with the given one.

pagutierrezn 5y ago
I love the way you've formulated that concept. Thanks.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

demouser345 5y ago

I made this account to dispute this garbage. No other shell or programming language comes close out of the box at the versatility that Bash has. I say this after having searched high and low for shell programming languages, maintaining big bash projects for a multiple organizations. There are idiosyncracies to java, c, go and rust too. This monoculture of bash is bad is tiring. Paired with the monoculture of go is the new hotness. I rewrote at 500 line python project in 100 lines of bash for more functionality, but at a cost of more external dependencies but they are system deps with a standard abi without having to deal with python. APL has its strengths where Go/Rust is terrible. Just use the correct tool for the job. And no more of this monoculture. Diverse problems need diverse solutions

numpad0 5y ago

Not sure if that’s working as a counterexample.