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It is interesting that one of the most solid piece of software component that is relatively resistant to rotting is Shell/Bash scripts. (Including Makefiles) P

It is interesting that one of the most solid piece of software component that is relatively resistant to rotting is Shell/Bash scripts. (Including Makefiles) Python, Ruby, etc. constantly get obsolete over time, packages get removed from the central repositories, ceasing to work. Obviously shell scripts contain _many_ external dependencies, but overall the semantics are well-defined even if the actual definitions are loose against the shell script itself. P.S: I have written couple of Bash-script projects that are still running (mostly deployment automation scripts) meanwhile, some of which I was being "smart" and wrote them in Python 2.7, unfortunately ceased to function, requiring upgrades...

benchly 1y ago
What about C? Is there something to be said for the proximity of the language to the machine language? Maybe that sounds like a dumb question because I am a beginner at coding, so I apologize, but it's something I've recently gotten into via an interest in microcontrollers. A low(er)-level language like C seems to be pretty universally sound, running on just about anything, and seems to have not changed much in a long, long time. But when I was dabbling in both Python and Ruby (on Rails) and .NET framework, I noticed what you mean, as I scooped up some old projects on github thinking I'd add to them and realize that it would be a chore to get them updated.
prmoustache 1y ago
Frankly perl5 seems like one that is very resistant to rot. TCL and TK as well.
8n4vidtmkvmk 1y ago
I recently discovered how many of my bash scripts run perfectly fine in git-bash on windows. I was pleased. I believe Bun (yes the js runtime) can run .sh scripts too. And of course under WSL too. So 3 different ways I can run them on Windows. File paths can get a little sketchy but with a couple helpers it's not hard to convert back and forth.

benchly 1y ago

What about C? Is there something to be said for the proximity of the language to the machine language? Maybe that sounds like a dumb question because I am a beginner at coding, so I apologize, but it's something I've recently gotten into via an interest in microcontrollers. A low(er)-level language like C seems to be pretty universally sound, running on just about anything, and seems to have not changed much in a long, long time. But when I was dabbling in both Python and Ruby (on Rails) and .NET framework, I noticed what you mean, as I scooped up some old projects on github thinking I'd add to them and realize that it would be a chore to get them updated.

prmoustache 1y ago

Frankly perl5 seems like one that is very resistant to rot. TCL and TK as well.

8n4vidtmkvmk 1y ago

I recently discovered how many of my bash scripts run perfectly fine in git-bash on windows. I was pleased. I believe Bun (yes the js runtime) can run .sh scripts too. And of course under WSL too. So 3 different ways I can run them on Windows. File paths can get a little sketchy but with a couple helpers it's not hard to convert back and forth.