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@alexlewando bon courage pour la fin ;-) #forgecamp — 11 years 46 weeks ago
After spending the morning on android signing keys, I see green robots everywhere! Now it's becoming serious..! — 11 years 46 weeks ago
@alexlewando Tu es dans quelle équipe ? — 11 years 46 weeks ago
favorable user feedback is really the best reward http://t.co/1BF1IGUF — 11 years 47 weeks ago
1st #android app, 2nd release and so many hours for such a simple thing : https://t.co/OH0Wb4H6. Now back to #dataconnexions ! — 11 years 47 weeks ago
quand je fais une mise en prod http://t.co/aZ66rUtG http://t.co/69Dh79sx #lesjoiesducode — 11 years 47 weeks ago
You know that you got a good password when you cannot recover it yourself — 11 years 48 weeks ago
Checking out tutorials @DataStax http://t.co/QOHSIUjj while waiting for yesterday @pcmanus slides or video... — 11 years 48 weeks ago
@pcmanus hello peut-on avoir les slides d'hier ? — 11 years 48 weeks ago
Very nice talk about #cassandra by @pcmanus . Makes it easy to understand the product pros and cons — 11 years 48 weeks ago

nicobo*playground

Python versus Shell scripting : from experience

Submitted by nicobo on November 8, 2015 - 15:24

A quick "pros & cons" to choose between Python or Shell scripting, from what I've observed through the years.

This could probably apply to other high level script languages* vs shell.

* Like Ruby, but not like Perl, as it shares more with shells from my point of view, like unreadable syntax and execution speed.

Python vs Shell

Choose Python for :

its simple syntax : can be read even by non Python-speaking people. End users may not be scared to change scripts to fit their need.
portability : Python is actually more portable than shell because of ease of installation for any OS. Shell is theoretically portable but it's complicated to explain end users how to install the runtime (e.g. see cygwin). A Python script can be packaged into an executable program. There may be ways to bundle a script with the shell runtime.

Choose Shell for :

speed : except in case of bad code logic, shell scripts are usually a lot faster than Python's equivalents.
its ease to deal with external programs and system : shell's syntax is already made to test/pipe/chain easily existing programs, whereas Python requires some extra boilerplate. Shell also has built-in functions to deal directly with files and the system, whereas Python uses an object-oriented model, which may not be as handy.

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