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What is the most favorite scripting languages used by IT pros and why? I see that Javascript is mostly used by developers while legacy VBScript and Powershell for Windows admins and bash/shell for UNIX/Linux admins. Is there a globally used scripting language for all platforms?
Tazo
Posted 2015-06-26T15:19:29.573
Reputation: 13
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Unfortunately - this is like asking which car is best suited to people who drive... there is and never will be a definitive answer..
That said, there are some good generalisations you can make:
For administering pretty much anything Windows 7/2008R2 and newer - PowerShell is a very good choice. The reason for this is that it leverages a lot of the power of the .net framework, has modules specifically designed for windows fuctionality (SQL modules, Active directory modules etc) and is very object-oriented. It is also starting to break ground in the Linux world as Microsoft is striving to bring out a unified platform approach to IT.
For older Windows systems, VBScript and batch files were generally the way to go. Batch files because they are an effective and simple way to perform most tasks and have their roots right back to the Pre-Windows days. VBScript because it gave a lot of extra functionality that somewhat bridged the gap between compiled VB programming languages and batch file based scripting.
Linux - bash/shell scripts. It has been a staple of the Linux world for a long time (although PowerShell is slowly making its way in the Linux world for Enterprise)
Web - Javascript/PHP. Both cross-platform languages - heavily rooted and used the world over. Javascript is more predominantly Browser-side and has heaps of libraries that make it very powerfull (JQuery for example). PHP has been around for around 20 years now as an open source multi-platform (Linux and Windows) server-side language which drives a lot of popular content managers (Joomla, WordPress etc)
There are also a lot of other good cross-platform scripting languages available. One that I personally have come to love is Python. I can run the same script from my XP, 8.1, 2012R2, Ubuntu and Kali boxes as long as I have the matching Python version installed on all the machines.
The real list of available languages/methodologies and their purposes could go on for ever - so your best bet is to start looking at the sort of tasks you want to accomplish and find a language to suit (you want to work on 2012R2 IIS - PowerShell, you want to script browser-side webpages - Javascript etc..)
Source: 12 years as a Server Administrator
Fazer87
Posted 2015-06-26T15:19:29.573
Reputation: 11 177
Your web suggestion appears to be biased.... There is a thing called .net – Dave – 2015-06-26T15:52:07.173
@Fazer87: The only people telling you that PowerShell will take over the Linux world are Windows people. All the arguments I've seen in favor of it remind me of the arguments a quarter century ago about how VMS was going to win over Unix. Here is what the Linux community thinks of that idea.
– Warren Young – 2015-06-26T16:02:47.880
5This will be closed because it is opinion based and too broad. Try narrowing your question somewhat. – Ctrl-alt-dlt – 2015-06-26T15:22:59.347
1No. Use the scripting language which works, is most efficient, and maintainable for your platform. If your company already uses something then continue using that thing. – MonkeyZeus – 2015-06-26T15:25:02.490
If I want to master at least one, what should it be and why? Perl, Python, Javascript, Powershell? – Tazo – 2015-06-26T15:27:03.730
1It's clear that you have done zero research and are fishing for conversation. This is not the website for that type of thing. Just so you know, Javascript is a browser-based scripting language and professionals would immediately laugh you out of the room and company for suggesting such a thing. Good luck – MonkeyZeus – 2015-06-26T15:30:41.607
@MonkeyZeus: You are neglecting JScript and node.js.
– Warren Young – 2015-06-26T15:53:13.007