Computerworld is undertaking a series of investigations into the most widely-used programming languages. Previously we have spoken to Alfred v. Aho of , S. Tucker Taft on the , Microsoft about its ...

It is easy to dismiss bash — the typical Linux shell program — as just a command prompt that allows scripting. Bash, however, is a full-blown programming language. I wouldn’t pres… ...

Shell scripting is an often forgotten programming environment, relegated to simple automation tasks and little else. In fact, it’s possible to achieve much more complex tasks in the shell.

A high-level programming language that is interpreted (translated on the fly) rather than compiled ahead of time. A scripting language may be a general-purpose programming language or it may be ...

Still, scripting languages weren’t used in two areas of programming: systems programming and commercial, installable, “shrink-wrapped” products. Now those barriers have been broken as well.

Shell isn't exactly a programming language. Instead, a shell script instructs an operating system to automatically run a pre-designed list of commands.

In subsequent articles, I will talk about the various scripting languages and platforms, basic programming concepts for scripting, and using Windows shell scripting and Visual Basic scripting for ...