[NBLUG/talk] Perl vs other scripting methods

Chris Palmer chris at eff.org
Tue May 9 11:26:22 PDT 2006


Todd Cary writes:

> Should one really go through the efforts and learn the language that
> is used by so many scripts in Linux or stick with Perl or as
> suggested, Python?

The maximally competent Unix sys admin is comfortable with sh; all the
shell utils (sed, awk, grep, et c.); Perl or, increasingly, Python; and
C.  You should understand the core C APIs, namely the standard C library
and the kernel interfaces (especially the filesystem and sockets).

I recommend these great books for learning system innards:

    * Maurice Bach, *The Design of the UNIX Operating System*
    * Marshall Kirk McKusick et al., *The Design and Implementation of
      the 4.4 BSD Operating System*
    * Johnson M. Hart, *Windows System Programming*
    * Mark Russinovich, *Windows Internals*

Yep, Windows too.  It's very helpful (a) to know Windows; and (b) to be
able to compare the designs, implementations, and APIs of multiple
operating systems.  If nothing else, how can you know Unix is better if
you don't also know Windows just as intimately?  ;)

If you can add more languages or systems to the list, that's gravy.


-- 
https://www.eff.org/about/staff/#chris_palmer

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