On Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:56:11 -0500
Calvin Morrison <mutantturkey@...> wrote:

> On 22 January 2012 16:44, Baho Utot <baho-utot@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > On Sunday 22 January 2012 01:21:42 pm Darrell Anderson wrote:
> >> > Unless you're already good at C++, just about any other
> >> > language is going to be faster
> >> > to program in. �Programmer time is more valuable than
> >> > machine time these days for
> >> > the majority of applications--and for small- to
> >> > medium-sized programs, no one is going
> >> > to notice the difference in execution speed between one and
> >> > three milliseconds anyway.
> >>
> >> A funny thing about speed. Possibly experienced coders see a difference
> >> whereas every day users probably do not. Yet speed is relative. Often I
> >> have read how shell scripts are slow. From a strict theoretical and design
> >> perspective, I am sure that is true. In certain iterative tests, I'm sure
> >> shell scripts can be shown to be slower than other scripting languages. Yet
> >> in my every day usage, and I have written a few long shell scripts, I don't
> >> notice anything. I once read a person's comment that once a shell script
> >> grows to beyond a few dozen lines that a person should move to Python or
> >> Perl. Okay. Whatever.
> >
> >
> > +1
> >
> > Arch linux package manger make extensive use of bash. �Have a look at makepkg
> > mkchroot and repo-add etc.
> >
> > few dozen lines indeed ;)
> >
> > I take it they have not seen my shell scripts :)
> >
> > For system admin etc bash is great.
> 
> 
> We say that scripting is great, but it often causes a mess once it gets to big.
> 
> Ever worked on a project at a company and there is just one old perl
> script that nobody dares touch? it's several thousand lines and is
> hiding in some obscure folder. But every week a cron job runs this
> script and things continue as normal.

It's very easy to write bad Perl, though.  (It's also possible, but more difficult,
to write good Perl.)  Structuring a script properly and maintainably is work,
but it can be done . . . just like structuring a compiled-language program
properly and maintainably.  It's all code, and can be written the right way or 
the wrong way.

> Scripting needs to be watched carefully before it grows out of control

Nevertheless, scripting languages have their uses, and insisting that they never
be used is just as silly as insisting that they always be used.

(For what it's worth, Gentoo's package manager is written in Python, and
the "packages" are actually shell scripts . . . and I don't think I've ever
run into a problem that was traceable specifically to a Portage bug in the
~6 years I've been with this distro.)