I disagree that bash is fixable for the same reason I believe that javascript isn't fixable. It's too "low-level", by that I mean whoever implements it is also

I disagree that bash is fixable for the same reason I believe that javascript isn't fixable. It's too "low-level", by that I mean whoever implements it is also implementing the entire system it's going to be living in. Javascript runs in a browser, and standardizing it means standardizing the browser. And that's just not going to happen, there are literally thousands of versions of browsers. And so bash exists in the context of an entire unix-y system. You can fix it for yourself, but that's not going to fix the problems that bash has. No standard library. You need to build on an abstraction that you control, that can accommodate for the differences between systems. And if you want a language with a REPL, it already exists. Ruby. You can do amazing things with Pry, Ruby's true REPL, and inline Bundler. Automatic dependency management in a single-file script? Yes please! Could also do Smalltalk or a Lisp if that way of working entices. You literally never have to touch bash/zsh/fish/whatever if you don't want to. Set your shell to Pry. In a Ruby process you can abstract over literally everything. You can use Pry's shell-integration to do bash-y stuff or you can use editor integration to open up classes or methods in emacsclient or what have you. An actual, honest-to-god, real language, specifically engineered to be human-friendly, with everything you could ever need. It can even run it's own readline, which you can modify if you feel the need. https://github.com/ConnorAtherton/rb-readline https://github.com/ConnorAtherton/rb-readline