[clnhlzmn]

This is totally true and the bash apologists are delusional.

[TeMPOraL]

So are some Python advocates, too. The thing that's worse than a bash script made of Perlish line noise, is a piece of "clean code" dead simple Python that's 80% __language__.boilerplate, 20% logic, smeared over 10x the lines because small functions calling small functions are cool. No one has enough working memory to keep track of what's going on there. Instead, your eyes glaze over it and you convince yourself you understand what's going on.

Also, Python build scripts can be living hell too, full of dancing devils that could be introducing backdoors left and right - just look at your average Conan recipe, particularly for larger/more sensitive libraries, like OpenSSL or libcurl.

[sanderjd]

FWIW, my comment wasn't meant to single out python as particularly good. I think the comparison I drew between its inscrutability and that of shell / bash would apply to nearly all other languages as well.

[_a_a_a_]

That's a lot of emotive language, can you actually link to some actual examples.

[lobocinza]

It depends on the use case. Bash code can be elegant, Python code can be ugly. I'm not saying those are the average cases but complex code regardless of the language often is ugly even with effort to make it more readable.

[clnhlzmn]

Oh I get it. Sometimes bash is the right tool for the job. I think that’s just mostly an unfortunate historical artifact though. It’s hard to argue it’s intuitive or “clean” or ${POSITIVE_ADJECTIVE} in the average case.

[egorfine]

I'm a bash apologist and I totally stand by your words. It's delusional. Bash totally has to go.