[PLUG] How many of us write small scripts?

[Joe Shisei Niski]

On 12/12/2009 01:26 PM, Keith Lofstrom wrote:
> The most significant attraction of Linux/Unix for me is how easy
> it is to do "cheap programming" - shell scripts, perl scripts, etc.
> I am a mediocre programmer, but with Linux and a little bit of
> knowledge I am able to automate many small tasks.  This usually
> means that I forget how to run some commands, because I have buried
> them in scripts in /usr/local/bin or ~/bin .  Since I can *read* the
> scripts later on (especially if I add a few lines of comments) that
> is actually an automated way to remember stuff without wasting a
> lot of attention on it.
>
> Many PLUG members seem to spend most of their time in GUI-land.
> Which is good, if all the visual metaphors are consistent and the
> right tools are available.   But it is much harder to automate
> small hacks that way - you become dependent on others who are
> skilled with gtk or qt and c++, who spend days to months polishing
> their creations with check boxes and options.
>
> So, I'm curious ... how many of us know enough to write quick shell
> scripts?  How many of us know how to write quick 5 minute GUI hacks?
>
> Perhaps I can help teach some scripting, and learn some GUI hacking
> from others.  The real value of open source systems is that they
> empower us to create, not just consume.
>
> Keith
>
>    
i do small bash scripts, with a bit of sed, all the time for managing my 
personal stuff (i have a bunch of rsync scripts), and for cleaining up & 
massaging text (much of it xml and csv) at work. i'm a java developer by 
trade, but use a lot of scripting tools (esp. Ant) to manage various 
aspects of the development lifecycle (build, deploy, etc.)

i'm definitely interested in learning more about Bash (O'Reilly's Bash 
Cookbook is great), and Python. Never took to Perl, as much as i love 
the *ix shell environment for doing "just good enough" to get things 
done. Having to work on a Windows command line is pure pain (though 
Cygwin helps).

________________________________________
Joe Shisei Niski
Portland, Oregon, USA