Me on Twitter

Clever #rovio : they put the cartoons inside the #AngryBirds apps to gain more audience ! — 11 years 36 weeks ago
@CedN “@DevoxxFR “@aagahi \o/ Prochain Paris Scala UG - @DevoxxFR le 28 mars, avec @odersky https://t.co/y4falcBDmq”” — 11 years 36 weeks ago
@wadael #ORMLite a été listé à la fin (entre autres) mais vu le reste de la prez je n'ai pas tenté les questions :-) — 11 years 36 weeks ago
@wadael dommage je suis parti dès la fin de la séance... Pas trop appris ce soir, c'était plus du design pattern général que de l'android... — 11 years 36 weeks ago
@zenikaIt @android2ee point final de la conf ce soir : #maven n'est pas prêt pour #Android ;-) — 11 years 36 weeks ago
RT @sam_et_max: Ils ont du temps libre un jour par semaine chez Google, et ça se voit. Annotations Java débiles, checked https://t.co/xO ... — 11 years 36 weeks ago
If you didn't know about it : #Android API changes report http://t.co/RvvgNpZDae Very useful ! — 11 years 36 weeks ago
Is it an #android up there ? Cannot access to check... http://t.co/pVTkRnD7vY — 11 years 37 weeks ago
Ce livre blanc vaut pour tous les #CMS mais il donne aussi un bon aperçu de #Drupal solide, évolutif http://t.co/aLi9sWeuzz — 11 years 37 weeks ago
Haven't noticed before that the true specification of attributes likes load-on-startup is in the XSD itself http://t.co/P2qQNCVdxn #JavaEE — 11 years 37 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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