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Full Discussion: An alternative to BASH/TCSH?
Top Forums UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers An alternative to BASH/TCSH? Post 302443671 by Koalaboration on Monday 9th of August 2010 08:32:31 PM
Old 08-09-2010
Ah yes, I see some clarification is needed.

The BEST programming/script/anything language is:

1) Simple (i.e. only as complicated as absolutely necessary) (python is simple)

2) Intuitive; not necessarily easy to learn. (i.e. implemented logically, syntactically logical, semantically logical) (C is extremely syntactically logical, although semantically it can be a little cryptic)

3) As good as BASH or TCSH (functionally speaking)

I've coded in python and C and enjoy both.

BASH, while ubiquitous, powerful, and useful, is:

1) Unnecessarily complicated. Its like the English language. We think it simple, because we've learned it by rote, but anyone with an objective opinion (and therefore more valuable scientifically speaking) (i.e. a native non-English speaker) will tell you it makes little sense. Imagine how much faster infants would learn to speak if we used a language that was actually designed to be easy to learn ...

2) BASH's cryptic syntax make it look cool, but also make it esoteric, which is a terrible quality for any language to have, as it directly contradicts it purpose.

The PERFECT language would simple require to user to tell the computer what to do, and it would do it. Simple as that. However, BASH is an inadequate stopgap (it's not a good enough alternative in the meantime) Python is much closer, but it's a bit of a pain to write shell scripts in python.

Sometimes I wonder if shell scripts are even necessary, but they so often prove their use, that this though rarely lingers :P

To be honest, I was REALLY hoping someone would say:

"Hey, yeah, why don't you try TPSH (The Perfect Shell) ? Syntactically it's like python, but is semantically implemented via LISP and has features of both. The core functions basically form a wrapper for BASH while the rest incorporate other features like OOP and AOP and more!"

But that event is looking less and less likely ... so I might have to advance beyond basic BASH in exchange for my soul.
 

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LEARN ABOUT DEBIAN

dh_python

DH_PYTHON(1)							     Debhelper							      DH_PYTHON(1)

NAME

       dh_python - calculates Python dependencies and adds postinst and prerm Python scripts (deprecated)

SYNOPSIS

       dh_python [debhelperoptions] [-n] [-V version] [moduledirs...]

DESCRIPTION

       Note: This program is deprecated. You should use dh_python2 instead.  This program will do nothing if debian/pycompat or a Python-Version
       control file field exists.

       dh_python is a debhelper program that is responsible for generating the ${python:Depends} substitutions and adding them to substvars files.
       It will also add a postinst and a prerm script if required.

       The program will look at Python scripts and modules in your package, and will use this information to generate a dependency on python, with
       the current major version, or on pythonX.Y if your scripts or modules need a specific python version. The dependency will be substituted
       into your package's control file wherever you place the token ${python:Depends}.

       If some modules need to be byte-compiled at install time, appropriate postinst and prerm scripts will be generated. If already byte-
       compiled modules are found, they are removed.

       If you use this program, your package should build-depend on python.

OPTIONS

       module dirs
	   If your package installs Python modules in non-standard directories, you can make dh_python check those directories by passing their
	   names on the command line. By default, it will check /usr/lib/site-python, /usr/lib/$PACKAGE, /usr/share/$PACKAGE,
	   /usr/lib/games/$PACKAGE, /usr/share/games/$PACKAGE and /usr/lib/python?.?/site-packages.

	   Note: only /usr/lib/site-python, /usr/lib/python?.?/site-packages and the extra names on the command line are searched for binary (.so)
	   modules.

       -V version
	   If the .py files your package ships are meant to be used by a specific pythonX.Y version, you can use this option to specify the
	   desired version, such as 2.3. Do not use if you ship modules in /usr/lib/site-python.

       -n, --noscripts
	   Do not modify postinst/prerm scripts.

CONFORMS TO

       Debian policy, version 3.5.7

       Python policy, version 0.3.7

SEE ALSO

       debhelper(7)

       This program is a part of debhelper.

AUTHOR

       Josselin Mouette <joss@debian.org>

       most ideas stolen from Brendan O'Dea <bod@debian.org>

9.20120909							    2011-12-06							      DH_PYTHON(1)
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