4 ms·

A lot of people suggests python, I'd argue that python is a bad fit for what many bash scripts does. A bash script is basically scripting what you do on your t

by tjoff 2y ago

A lot of people suggests python, I'd argue that python is a bad fit for what many bash scripts does. A bash script is basically scripting what you do on your terminal. I feel like scripting in the same language that is your terminal interface is underrated. You can basically take a look at your command history and wrap it up as a script. Yes, bash is clunky as hell. It has some really ugly warts. But learning the basics will make you more proficient in the terminal. The synergies are really nice.

_xiaz 2y ago
As a linux admin, bash and python are my bread and butter. I have two heuristics for choosing between them: - If it needs more math than counting, choose Python - If it's >200 lines (500 if I'm brave), choose Python Otherwise, shell scripting is nice
- rcxdude 2y ago
  my heuristic is "if there's an if statement, loop, or variable substitution with uncontrolled input, use python".
lloeki 2y ago
Interesting that a lot of the (general, not specifically here) commentary is "don't use bash, use python" which I find quite clunky, noisy, and boilerplatey to do the same thing as a shell script. Kinda Master Foo and the Ten Thousand Lines†. Ruby's https://github.com/ruby/shell https://github.com/ruby/shell (which used to be bundled in Ruby itself) doesn't get much mention but is much more clear and useful to me. # system commands are not defined by default, only builtins, for safety Shell.def_system_command 'ls' Shell.def_system_command 'grep' Shell.def_system_command 'jq' Shell.new.transact do # simple redirs just work ls | grep('test') > 'some/file' ls | grep('other') | tee('foo') >> 'some/file' # pops at the end of the block cd 'some/dir' do # nested redir for demo (cat < 'foo.json') | jq '.[] | { bar: .bar }' end end † http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/unix-koans/ten-thousand.html http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/unix-koans/ten-thousand.htm...
- kmarc 2y ago
  Similar as plumbum for python https://pypi.org/project/plumbum/ https://pypi.org/project/plumbum/ (also supports dispatching commands to SSH sessions)
  - lloeki 2y ago
    plumbum is nice, although the optional parens of Ruby makes things more shellish. Also Ruby's Shell was part of the stdlib, so if a system had Ruby you could use it without having to go through system ruby `gem install` conundrums. I think they made a mistake unbundling that one.
csomar 2y ago
It’s also something that LLMs generate really well. So you can build reasonably complex scripts with little knowledge of bash.
- j0hnyl 2y ago
  This holds for most scripting options.
d0mine 2y ago
You could use both Bash and Python for tasks they are good at: concisely creating one-line shell pipelines in Bash and implementing complex logic that glues together these pipelines in Python. Example: pyinvoke/fabric https://www.fabfile.org https://www.fabfile.org

by tjoff 2y ago

_xiaz 2y ago

As a linux admin, bash and python are my bread and butter. I have two heuristics for choosing between them: - If it needs more math than counting, choose Python - If it's >200 lines (500 if I'm brave), choose Python Otherwise, shell scripting is nice

rcxdude 2y ago
my heuristic is "if there's an if statement, loop, or variable substitution with uncontrolled input, use python".

lloeki 2y ago

Interesting that a lot of the (general, not specifically here) commentary is "don't use bash, use python" which I find quite clunky, noisy, and boilerplatey to do the same thing as a shell script. Kinda Master Foo and the Ten Thousand Lines†. Ruby's https://github.com/ruby/shell https://github.com/ruby/shell (which used to be bundled in Ruby itself) doesn't get much mention but is much more clear and useful to me. # system commands are not defined by default, only builtins, for safety Shell.def_system_command 'ls' Shell.def_system_command 'grep' Shell.def_system_command 'jq' Shell.new.transact do # simple redirs just work ls | grep('test') > 'some/file' ls | grep('other') | tee('foo') >> 'some/file' # pops at the end of the block cd 'some/dir' do # nested redir for demo (cat < 'foo.json') | jq '.[] | { bar: .bar }' end end † http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/unix-koans/ten-thousand.html http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/unix-koans/ten-thousand.htm...

kmarc 2y ago
Similar as plumbum for python https://pypi.org/project/plumbum/ https://pypi.org/project/plumbum/ (also supports dispatching commands to SSH sessions)
- lloeki 2y ago
  plumbum is nice, although the optional parens of Ruby makes things more shellish. Also Ruby's Shell was part of the stdlib, so if a system had Ruby you could use it without having to go through system ruby `gem install` conundrums. I think they made a mistake unbundling that one.

csomar 2y ago

It’s also something that LLMs generate really well. So you can build reasonably complex scripts with little knowledge of bash.

j0hnyl 2y ago
This holds for most scripting options.

d0mine 2y ago

You could use both Bash and Python for tasks they are good at: concisely creating one-line shell pipelines in Bash and implementing complex logic that glues together these pipelines in Python. Example: pyinvoke/fabric https://www.fabfile.org https://www.fabfile.org