Shell scripting VS perl

Hi.


Are there any guidelines to which (automation) problems that should be
solved using shell (bash) scripts and which problems one should solve
with perl?


Regards,
kenneho

kenneho staggered into the Black Sun and said:
> Are there any guidelines to which automation problems should be solved
> using shell scripts, and which problems should [be] [solved] with
> perl?

If it has to be run before /usr is mounted, use shell. If it mostly
involves invoking external programs, or you can do it in less than 40
lines, use shell. If it'd be a complete pain to do it in shell, use
Perl. If none of these things apply, then use whatever you want, just
take care to put in comments and document the script so that you don't
say, "What was I thinking?" 6 months later.

There are not huge numbers of guidelines for this sort of thing because
the number of problems out there is so large, and everyone's approach to
those problems is different. The previous paragraph worked for me.
YMMV.

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On Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:01:52 -0700, kenneho wrote:

> Hi.
>
>
> Are there any guidelines to which (automation) problems that should be
> solved using shell (bash) scripts and which problems one should solve
> with perl?
>
You can't use Perl on a system job if it's not available while booting.
like prior to when the ram disk is detatched and the drives installed.

Ruben

>
> Regards,
> kenneho

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kenneho <kenneho.ndu@gmail.com> wrote:

> Are there any guidelines to which (automation) problems that should be
> solved using shell (bash) scripts and which problems one should solve
> with perl?

No. If both is possible it's a matter of taste which one you
choose. Some people may even choose something different instead of
Perl.


Florian
--
<http://www.florian-diesch.de/>
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Dances With Crows <danceswithcrows@usa.net>:
> kenneho staggered into the Black Sun and said:
> > Are there any guidelines to which automation problems should be solved
> > using shell scripts, and which problems should [be] [solved] with
> > perl?
>
> If it has to be run before /usr is mounted, use shell. If it mostly
> involves invoking external programs, or you can do it in less than 40
> lines, use shell. If it'd be a complete pain to do it in shell, use
> Perl. If none of these things apply, then use whatever you want, just
> take care to put in comments and document the script so that you don't
> say, "What was I thinking?" 6 months later.
>
> There are not huge numbers of guidelines for this sort of thing because
> the number of problems out there is so large, and everyone's approach to
> those problems is different. The previous paragraph worked for me.

Good advice. Add that some things are simple in shell and some things
are really difficult, but simple in perl/python/...

The job of a maintenance programmer (inheriting others' code) is an
interesting art. "Where do I even start to fix this?" :-) Please,
at least comment. Document it too, would be nice, but I'll do that if
I have to when you don't. Somebody has to.


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Florian Diesch <diesch@spamfence.net> wrote:
> kenneho <kenneho.ndu@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Are there any guidelines to which (automation) problems that should be
>> solved using shell (bash) scripts and which problems one should solve
>> with perl?
>
> No. If both is possible it's a matter of taste which one you
> choose. Some people may even choose something different instead of
> Perl.

Quite, I've dabbled in perl and dabbled a bit more in python...
Must say, by far, python is much more user/programmer-friendly.
Even if you do write your perl in longhand (so to speak) so that it's easier
to understand, it can still be awkward after 6 months to instantly know
what's going on.

There're still somethings, such as text processing, that perl beats python
of course. As there're some things like object oriented structured
programming that python beats perl at.
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When in doubt, use perl. That's true because a lot of scripts tend to
grow beyond their original use. It is easier to write a large program
in perl, especially if it does anything complicated.

I have 174 personal perl scripts. (not counting my other projects such
as my websites, work etc).

i

Andrew Halliwell <spike1@ponder.sky.com> wrote:

> Florian Diesch <diesch@spamfence.net> wrote:
>> kenneho <kenneho.ndu@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Are there any guidelines to which (automation) problems that should be
>>> solved using shell (bash) scripts and which problems one should solve
>>> with perl?
>>
>> No. If both is possible it's a matter of taste which one you
>> choose. Some people may even choose something different instead of
>> Perl.
>
> Quite, I've dabbled in perl and dabbled a bit more in python...
> Must say, by far, python is much more user/programmer-friendly.
> Even if you do write your perl in longhand (so to speak) so that it's easier
> to understand, it can still be awkward after 6 months to instantly know
> what's going on.

That can be done with python, too.

> There're still somethings, such as text processing, that perl beats python
> of course. As there're some things like object oriented structured
> programming that python beats perl at.

Perl is a really great extraction and report language. But its OOP
support is rather entertaining than really useful for bigger
projects. And complex data structures tend to get confusing in Perl.


Florian
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