From what I''ve heard, Lisp and other functional languages (I have a little experience with Haskell, so I''m not entirely talking out of my a**) don''t make very good scripting languages. They''re decent programming languages (Haskell implementations of certain math concepts like sets is almost a simple transcription from symbols to ascii, which makes it nearly perfect for exploring sets and/or series), but it''s harder to do "simple" things on data not internal to the program (like the output of another program) in functional languages(at least Haskell).

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Original post by athos_musketeer
people, you''re forgeting Lisp''s variants..
i''ve never used it. but i heard is very good handling lists.

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Original post by Oluseyi
Python is nearly a Lisp variant, in that it''s fundamental type is the list

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I think it''s more correct to say that Python''s fundamental type is the dictionary. If you delve deeper into the language, you will find that almost everything is (or is treated as) a dictionary - classes, objects, functions, modules etc...

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"I know very well who Satan is: He is freedom. He is the uncontrolled, the incalculable, the antithesis of order and discipline, the antithesis of the legalism of outer space.... We know where a planet will be in twelve years, four months and nine days. But we don''t know where a butterfly will have flown one minute hence. Therefore the butterfly is of Satan."
-- Jens Bjørneboe

Lots of good stuff about Python here: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PythonLanguage, including a link to PythonForLispProgrammers

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"If there is a God, he is a malign thug."
-- Mark Twain

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Original post by BradDaBug
What''s a good scripting language for Linux? I''ve decided I just might learn one, and now I gotta decide which one. My main motive is sometimes I notice that when I want to try something, I try it in C++, but it would be so much simpler and easier to just write a quick script and do it that ways.

So what are some good scripting languages and what kind of features does each one have?

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After a long time of not posting, I''ve decided to reply to this one and add my 2cents worth. From my experience, I''ve had the chance to learn and use Perl and I think that it''s the scripting language you should use. I''ve been using it for about 2 months now to code tools to simplify my job and I find that I have all the things I need and the CPAN modules are a breeze to install, although sometimes, it has trouble with some dependencies and it loops redundently. I''ve also been told( and I''m just stating what someone told me, so I''m not sure about this ), you can find compilers for pearl.

As for Python and the others( Haskell, etc ), I haven''t had the chance to use them so I can''t say much about it. Python seems to have a huge community of coders so it might be a good one also.

BASH SHELLS or C-SHELLs: well, I''m still an old shell scripter at heart so I''d say learn it. You don''t need to use it but learn it. You never know when you''ll need to code a shell script. Like a cron job or something like that. Sure you could use any other language to write your cron jobs but sometimes, SHELLs are just easier and take less time to code.

Rexx: I''ve heard a bit about it but not much either. All I can say is that at one time, my boss, used it extensively for alot of projects. Then he learned Perl and never used Rexx again.

TCL: Never used it, but I read that it could be easily incorporated into C/C++ code.

Rebol: it seems to be the next big scripting language in Europe at least. I''ve seen 2 or 3 example of scipts and it seems pretty fair and easy to code. Although, I hate the fact that instead of curly braces, they use angle brackets( not sure if that''s how they are called. I''m talking about "[" and "]" ) as delimiters. I prefer the good old curly braces but hey, you can''t have it all. A couple of people I''ve been talking to around the net have refered me to Rebol for some of my scripts that I wanted to code. Again, I haven''t use it yet but I''ll give it a go pretty soon. Seeing as I also like to learn new languages for the fun of it...

PHP: people seem to forget that PHP can be used as a stand alone shell scripting language also. It''s easy to learn for most C/C++ programmer as it''s syntax is alot like a mix of C/C++ and Java. And it has a huge community of users and coders so it''s really easy to get help if you get stuck.

Well, that''s my 2 cents worth about it. Hope all the replies help you make your choice. But basicly, learn all the scripting languages you can and choose the right one for the right job. That would be the best solution although a hard one to follow.

Well, got to go, work is calling...

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[Cyberdrek | the last true sorcerer | Spirit Mage - mutedfaith.com][ Administrator TheLinuxForum.tk]

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TCL/TK

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I took a class in it. The prof described it as "slightly less readable than Perl". :-/

He was right.

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"If there is a God, he is a malign thug."
-- Mark Twain

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Original post by Cyberdrek
From my experience, I''ve had the chance to learn and use Perl and I think that it''s the scripting language you should use.

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Coda: Perl is undergoing a complete rewrite for version 6, and it remains to be seen how that will affect existing/legacy code and applications, and how well your knowledge will translate. If you''re choosing a language now, I''d recommend something with a more stable syntax and API.

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TCL: Never used it, but I read that it could be easily incorporated into C/C++ code.

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True, but many other languages are easily incorporated in C or C++. In terms of actual language constructs and features, what does TCL have to offer? Most people seem to be of the opinion that it doesn''t offer much compared to the more modern alternatives... *shrug*

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Rebol: it seems to be the next big scripting language in Europe at least.

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They said the same thing about Ruby and Japan...

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Although, I hate the fact that instead of curly braces, they use angle brackets( not sure if that''s how they are called. I''m talking about "[" and "]" ) as delimiters. I prefer the good old curly braces but hey, you can''t have it all.

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() = parentheses
[] = brackets
{} = braces, or curly braces
<> = angle brackets

There was a thread in General Programming a few months back about how people prefer to structure their C and C++ code - K&R style, Java-esque, etc. There were so many variants and so many vehement reactions that it became apparent to me that eliminating unnecessary "flexibility" (so-called choice that adds no functionality just in the name of style) might be a boon to make programmers more productive. Incidentally, less-skilled programmers and non-programmers appear to be easily able to follow well-indented code, which makes it logical to use indentation to delimit scope. I''ll be the first to admit that I found the idea completely unacceptable when I first encountered it (SabreMan and Arild Fines were discussing Python''s simplicity and I was in opposition), but after overcoming my Failure of Nerve¹ I came to see that it was a very reasonable course of action.

My point? Scope and statement delimiters are unnecessary, and a language that eschews them in favor of indentation and a line-per-statement form tends to ensure that programmers produce more readable code, which is most definitely A Good Thing™

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PHP: people seem to forget that PHP can be used as a stand alone shell scripting language also. It''s easy to learn for most C/C++ programmer as it''s syntax is alot like a mix of C/C++ and Java. And it has a huge community of users and coders so it''s really easy to get help if you get stuck.

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Very good point. PHP is a full-featured programming language, and there are examples on the PHP language website of how to use it for shell scripting and so forth. I''m just too lazy to find the links right now...

¹See Arthur C. Clarke''s Profiles of the Future.

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Original post by Oluseyi
Coda: Perl is undergoing a complete rewrite for version 6, and it remains to be seen how that will affect existing/legacy code and applications, and how well your knowledge will translate. If you''re choosing a language now, I''d recommend something with a more stable syntax and API.

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I wasn''t aware of th e complete rewrite part. I stand corrected...

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True, but many other languages are easily incorporated in C or C++. In terms of actual language constructs and features, what does TCL have to offer? Most people seem to be of the opinion that it doesn''t offer much compared to the more modern alternatives... *shrug*

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I don''t have a clue. I''ve never used it personally but I just thought I should add my 2 cents worth.

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They said the same thing about Ruby and Japan...

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Good thing to know...

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() = parentheses
[] = brackets
{} = braces, or curly braces
<> = angle brackets

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Cool...

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There was a thread in General Programming a few months back about how people prefer to structure their C and C++ code - K&R style, Java-esque, etc. There were so many variants and so many vehement reactions that it became apparent to me that eliminating unnecessary "flexibility" (so-called choice that adds no functionality just in the name of style) might be a boon to make programmers more productive. Incidentally, less-skilled programmers and non-programmers appear to be easily able to follow well-indented code, which makes it logical to use indentation to delimit scope. I''ll be the first to admit that I found the idea completely unacceptable when I first encountered it (SabreMan and Arild Fines were discussing Python''s simplicity and I was in opposition), but after overcoming my Failure of Nerve¹ I came to see that it was a very reasonable course of action.

My point? Scope and statement delimiters are unnecessary, and a language that eschews them in favor of indentation and a line-per-statement form tends to ensure that programmers produce more readable code, which is most definitely A Good Thing™

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I tend to agree with you on that but in the case where they use delimiters, I still prefer curly braces...

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Very good point. PHP is a full-featured programming language, and there are examples on the PHP language website of how to use it for shell scripting and so forth. I''m just too lazy to find the links right now...

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As for the link, people can just do a search for PHP Scripting in their favorite search engine and they''ll find some info for sure.

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¹See Arthur C. Clarke''s Profiles of the Future.

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I''ll have to check that out.

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[Cyberdrek | the last true sorcerer | Spirit Mage - mutedfaith.com][ Administrator TheLinuxForum.tk]

Python has some cool features, blabla...

Phython fucks. Python is lame. Python is bullshit.

Ruby is quite good.

?

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"If there is a God, he is a malign thug."
-- Mark Twain

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Original post by Anonymous Poster
Python has some cool features, blabla...

Phython fucks. Python is lame. Python is bullshit.

Ruby is quite good.

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Maybe pointing out the reasons why you say Python isn''t good would help out. Or even better, if you don''t have anything constructive to say, don''t post.

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[Cyberdrek | the last true sorcerer | Spirit Mage - mutedfaith.com][ Administrator TheLinuxForum.tk]