Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2002 14:24:59 -0600 From: David Kelly <dkelly@hiwaay.net> To: rene@xs4all.nl Cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: what is a good language for system administration? Message-ID: <200201192024.g0JKOxR76001@grumpy.dyndns.org> In-Reply-To: Message from rene@xs4all.nl of "Sat, 19 Jan 2002 20:58:11 %2B0100." <20020119205810.B17795@xs4all.nl>
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rene@xs4all.nl writes: > So I've learned how to do basic scripting in /bin/sh. But boy-oh-boy is that > language arcane. ;-) > > What other language do you guys advise for system administration tasks such > as > * checking if a remote host is up > * pumping files & RAM data through external tools > * calling scripts written in the same language on a remote machine, to > 'pickup' data that was pumped to that machine by a local script. > > My wishlist for the language, prioritized with most important first: > * portability! to other UNIXes, and even Windoze. > * low system demands - it needs to run on lowend boxes aswell > * clear organization of any 'plugins' (which need to be replicated on other > machines aswell) > * a nice errorhandling & logging system > > I could really use some clues here. PHP comes into mind, but maybe there are > other better options? Well, English comes to mind as the first language to master for system administration but you seem to have that well in hand. Then you are correct in mastering sh as the next step. At the very least don't be a total klutz in sh. Few really master sh. For the next stage, for me, it was awk. Has been very useful over the years but if I knew then what I know now would have forced the issue and been slower completing the project which awk was so useful and migrated to perl. As in the end that project used a sh script to drive multiple awk scripts where a single perl script could have done the whole thing. I think a good handle on Perl will be good preparation for PHP. -- David Kelly N4HHE, dkelly@hiwaay.net ===================================================================== The human mind ordinarily operates at only ten percent of its capacity -- the rest is overhead for the operating system. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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