Things I Wish I'd Known About Bash

Post by joncrane » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 10:39 PM UTC

JepZ wrote: post #122

sethrin wrote: post #30

I wrote a book on Bash too. The most important thing for anyone to know about Bash is that it's intended as a command language, not a general purpose scripting language. If it's longer than 10 lines, or if it uses two or more variables, you should probably have written it in something other than Bash.

I disagree too. Bash has many downsides, but there are very few languages out there which have the ability to 'connect' different programs so easily. Bash scripts are slow as hell (as most commands have to spawn new processes), it is hard to write "secure" code (if even possible), handling whitespaces can be a pain in the * and the amount of repetition is awful. If your kid has done something wrong, just tell it to w…

Post by make3 » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 11:06 PM UTC

pritambaral wrote: post #92

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has to occasionally modify 100+ line bash scripts written by Coworkers from Christmas Past which matched your spec in terms of what they had to do, please please just use Python (or similar). Yes, you will have a few extra lines but it will be vastly more readable and maintainable. And yes, I know I will get the standard the person who wrote the script did a bad job but at some point it should be okay…

As someone who also has to semi-frequently modify 100+ lines bash scripts written by others, I'd suggest every serious bash scripter read the bash man page. It is much smaller than any book on Python. For scripts written in Python, I'd use a similar argument and suggest every serious Python scripter to learn Python. As for Perl, or Ruby, or Julia, or anything really. It's just that learning bash from its man page is,…

Post by v_lisivka » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 11:16 PM UTC

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #82

v_lisivka wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you use python instead of sh, but you argue that we should use sh instead of bash, perl, or python. I'm not convinced. IMHO, we should use proper tool for the job instead of making artificial limitations. Bash is proper tool in lot of cases, unless old proprietary OS or very limited embedded OS are targeted.

>So you use python instead of sh That's not what I said >we should use proper tool for the job This is the implication of what I said. I do not think that bash is the proper tool in most cases.

Post by Sir_Cmpwn » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 11:22 PM UTC

v_lisivka wrote: post #165

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So you use python instead of sh That's not what I said >we should use proper tool for the job This is the implication of what I said. I do not think that bash is the proper tool in most cases.

So it boils down to your personal taste.

Post by sethrin » Sat, Jan 06, 2018, 11:25 PM UTC

_kst_ wrote: post #162

sethrin wrote: post #30

I wrote a book on Bash too. The most important thing for anyone to know about Bash is that it's intended as a command language, not a general purpose scripting language. If it's longer than 10 lines, or if it uses two or more variables, you should probably have written it in something other than Bash.

I'd make the limit a lot more than 10 lines. I certainly prefer Perl for large scripts (Python is good too but I happen to know Perl better), but I often have to write scripts for targets that have bash but don't have Perl or Python. Since I've been forced to use bash, I've found it to be a better scripting language than I expected it to be.