I've been struggling with a rather complex shell script, and it's becoming apparent that Bash might not be the best choice for this particular task. While I usually gravitate towards statically typed languages like Go or Rust, I've noticed that many people recommend alternative languages such as Lua or Python for scripting tasks.

I'm curious to know your opinions and experiences with scripting languages for larger or more intricate shell scripts. Have you ever encountered a situation where Bash just didn't cut it, and if so, which scripting languages did you turn to for a more effective solution? Are there any specific languages you found particularly suitable for debugging, testing, or handling complex logic in your shell scripts?

  • philm@programming.dev
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    edit-2
    8 months ago

    I think it's not that bad yet, when comparing with npm. Usually the dependencies I use are of very high quality. But I'm also very selective with dependencies. I'm rather writing a simple part myself, than using a not-really maintained low-quality dependency...

    Btw. I have not looked into the Hare language yet (will do that now), but if it's similar as deno, I won't like it. You want to have some kind of package management IME...

    • philm@programming.dev
      ·
      8 months ago

      Drew Devault’s Hare language

      Ok, they say "use your distros package-manager", that's basically asking for the same disaster as C or C++. I think cargo is one of the selling points of Rust.

      At least say something like we use "Nix" for default package-management (which does a lot of things right)...