Scripting Languages
Bash, Perl, PHP, PowerShell, Python
Why learn a scripting language? If you are working in Linux, the startup is controlled by shell scripts and perhaps a Perl script or two. If you are trying to automate a sequence of commands under Linux, nothing is better than a shell script; maybe a Perl script, and some say a python script. Automation on a Microsoft system is best done with Perl or PowerShell. If you need graphics that are truly independent of OS and still look native on each, only TK does this and it is embedded in shells, Perl, and Python. If you want to add functionality to your website, you can do it with C, C++, C#, or Java. Or you could use JavaScript for simple needs and Perl or Python for complex needs and do the work in 1/3 of the time.
The scripting languages listed in this curriculum are free, extensible, and extremely well supported with large, active communities behind them. There are very good commercial and free IDEs, and the agile community has created automated test tools for most of the languages. Programming in a scripting language is easy to modify, easy to maintain, easy to test, and fast.
