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Date:      Sun, 20 Jan 2002 02:07:03 -0600
From:      "Mike Meyer" <mwm-dated-1011946023.0c21bb@mired.org>
To:        Alfatrion <alfatrion@cybertron.tmfweb.nl>
Cc:        questions@freebsd.org, rene@xs4all.nl
Subject:   Re: what is a good language for system administration?
Message-ID:  <15434.31399.395825.846309@guru.mired.org>
In-Reply-To: <122550064@toto.iv>

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Alfatrion <alfatrion@cybertron.tmfweb.nl> types:
> rxn> What other language do you guys advise for system administration tasks such
> rxn> as
> rxn> * checking if a remote host is up
> rxn> * pumping files & RAM data through external tools
> rxn> * calling scripts written in the same language on a remote machine, to
> rxn>   'pickup' data that was pumped to that machine by a local script.
> 
> rxn> My wishlist for the language, prioritized with most important first:
> rxn> * portability! to other UNIXes, and even Windoze.
> rxn> * low system demands - it needs to run on lowend boxes aswell
> rxn> * clear organization of any 'plugins' (which need to be replicated on other
> rxn>   machines aswell)
> rxn> * a nice errorhandling & logging system
> 
> rxn> I could really use some clues here. PHP comes into mind, but maybe there are
> rxn> other better options?
> 
> Two good choices are: Python and Java. The later is good for portabily
> to other type of systems.

Actually, I've found Python to be more portable than Java. Java's
portability is limited by the availability of the Java VM, which isn't
as portable as the Python VM. I've written Python GUI apps on Unix,
and they run unmodified on Windows and the Mac. 

Both Java and Python support CORBA for remote work. Python is a bit
uglier than Perl when it comes to munging strings and external
commands, but is generally more readable. That it has a REPL and Perl
doesn't is also nice.

The really cool tool is JPython, a Python implementation in Java. You
get the Python REPL running in an environment with your Java objects
loaded, so you can test them interactively, or use Python to build
debugging trusswork.

	<mike
--
Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.

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