Scripting languages are popular among developers and sysadmins for automating tasks and creating applications quickly and easily without needing to compile code. They allow more flexibility, require less verbosity, and help optimize workflows.
While not as fully-featured as programming languages, scripting languages provide useful capabilities that make them valuable additions to any techie‘s toolkit. Let‘s explore some of the most popular options worth learning.
1. JavaScript
Created in 1995 by Brendan Eich at Netscape, JavaScript has grown to become the most widely-used scripting language. It is integrated into web browsers to add interactive features to web pages and more recently expanded its capabilities for back-end development via Node.js.
Used for:
- Building interactive websites and web apps
- Mobile app development
- Command-line tools
- Real-time networking applications
- Games
- Frontend, backend or fullstack development
Key Benefits:
- Easy to get started with a gentle learning curve
- Huge community support and abundant resources
- Highly versatile to develop a range of applications
- Great compatibility with integrating other languages
Popular Companies/Products Using It: Facebook, Google, Netflix, PayPal, Walmart
Here is a simple JavaScript code snippet illustrating its syntax for adding interactivity to a web page:
const button = document.getElementById("myButton");
button.addEventListener("click", function() {
console.log("Button clicked!");
});2. Python
First released in 1991 by Guido van Rossum, Python provides an easy to read, English-like syntax and minimalistic approach that makes it very beginner friendly. It simplify many programming tasks thanks to its vast libraries and is a great general purpose scripting language.
Used for:
- Automating admin tasks
- Data analysis/science
- Machine learning
- Web development
- Penetration testing
- More!
Key Benefits:
- Very readable clean code
- Easy to learn with gentle learning curve
- Cross-platform compatibility
- Strong community support with many libraries/modules
- Integrates well with other languages like C, C++, Java
Popular Companies/Products Using It: NASA, Spotify, Netflix, Quora, eBay
Here is some sample Python code to give you an idea of what Python scripts look like:
import datetime
now = datetime.datetime.now()
print ("Current date and time : ")
print (now.strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"))3. PHP
PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is an open-source scripting language well suited for web development and can be embedded straight into HTML. Originally created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994, PHP powers many popular sites today.
Used for:
- Building dynamic websites and web apps
- Web scraping
- Desktop application development
- Server-side logic processing
Key Benefits:
- Integrates easily into HTML and databases
- High performance capable of handling heavy traffic
- Open source with lots of community support
- Cross-platform compatible
- Flexible to build logic and connect various components
Popular Companies/Products Using It: Facebook, Wikipedia, WordPress, MailChimp, Slack
This sample shows PHP code for connecting to a MySQL database:
<?php
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
// Create MySQL connection
$conn = mysqli_connect($servername, $username, $password);
// Check connection
if (!$conn) {
die("Connection failed: " . mysqli_connect_error());
}
echo "Connected successfully";
?>4. Ruby
Released in 1995 by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto, Ruby is an open-source language designed for programmer happiness with its natural syntax that reads almost like plain English. As an object-oriented language, it provides excellent readability.
Used for:
- Building web apps
- Software/web automation
- Networking & systems administration
- Computer game creation
Key Benefits:
- Beautiful and intuitive syntax
- Increased speed of development
- Strong focus on programmer happiness
- Useful abstractions that reduce code verbosity
- Large selection of tools/libraries
Popular Companies/Products Using It: Airbnb, Kickstarter, Shopify, Basecamp, Hulu
Here‘s a simple example of Ruby syntax:
print "Hello World! "
print "I‘m ready to learn Ruby!"5. Perl
Developed by Larry Wall in 1987, Perl stands for Practical Extraction and Reporting Language. As the name hints, it is well suited for parsing and manipulating text with its powerful regular expressions integrated in the language.
Used for:
- Extracting data/generating reports
- System administration
- Web development
- Network programming
- Bioinformatics
- More
Key Benefits:
- Very mature and stable
- Built-in regular expressions
- Huge collection of third party modules
- Backwards compatibility with older Perl code
- Supports numerous databases
- Cross-platform
Popular Companies/Products Using It: Slashdot, Craigslist, IMDb, LiveJournal
Here‘s an example Perl one-liner using regular expressions:
perl -ne ‘print "$1\n" if /(foo)/‘ file.txtThis will print all lines in file.txt containing the text "foo".
6. Bash
Bash (Bourne Again SHell) is a Unix shell and command language for interacting with the operating system. It has existed for decades and is a default shell in most Linux distributions.
Used for:
- Executing commands in Linux/Unix
- Automating tasks with shell scripts
- Launching/controlling jobs
- Administering systems
Key Benefits:
- Default shell in most Linux/macOS systems
- Can call other programs and scripts
- Support for loops and conditionals
- Easy to get started
Popular Companies/Products Using It: Utilized in nearly all Unix/Linux based systems!
Here is a simple example Bash script:
#!/bin/bash
NAME="John"
echo "Hello $NAME!"7. PowerShell
Introduced by Microsoft in 2006, PowerShell uses command line shell commands for managing Windows systems and automation. It also provides a scripting language integrated into the .NET framework.
Used for:
- Windows system administration
- Infrastructure automation
- Task scheduling
- Managing enterprise apps like Exchange
Key Benefits:
- Tight integration with Windows OS
- Develop custom modules/functions
- Automate configuration and deployment
- Scripts are portable and re-usable
- Interact with REST APIs
Popular Companies/Products Using It: Utilized by nearly all Windows sysadmins!
This shows a simple PowerShell command to get system info:
Get-ComputerInfo8. R
R is an open-source programming language focused on statistical computing and graphics visualization. Maintained by the R Project, it is very popular among data scientists, statisticians, and data miners.
Used for:
- Statistical analysis
- Data visualization
- Predictive analytics
- Data mining
Key Benefits:
- Specialized for statistical computing
- Great graphics and visualization capabilities
- Thousands of packages for specific techniques
- Cross-platform compatibility
- Integrates with other languages
- Has an active developer community
Popular Companies/Products Using It: Facebook, Google, Bank of America, Ford Motor Company
Here‘s a quick example of R code to generate a plot:
x <- c(1:5)
y <- x^2
plot(x, y)9. Groovy
Created by developer James Strachan in 2003, Groovy is an agile and dynamic language for the Java platform. It builds upon the strengths of Java but with additional features like native support for regular expressions, dictionaries, closures and more.
Used for:
- Building Java applications
- Integration and scripting
- Processing and building data pipelines
- Web application development
Key Benefits:
- Familiar Java-like syntax
- Compiles to Java bytecode
- Supports both static and dynamic typing
- Open-source with great performance
- Simplifies threading and concurrency
Popular Companies/Products Using It: Netflix, Uber, BMW
Here is some sample Groovy code demonstrating its Java-like syntax:
class Vehicle {
String make
String color
void drive() {
println "The $color $make drives past."
}
}
def car = new Vehicle(make: "Toyota", color: "red")
car.drive() // "The red Toyota drives past."I hope this overview has provided a helpful introduction to some of the most essential scripting languages used by developers and sysadmins today. From building applications to automating tasks and analyzing data, these languages serve many critical purposes.
The options covered have their own strengths and are worth learning if you want to expand your skillset. They can make you more versatile, productive and valuable in our increasingly tech-driven world.
Start exploring the ones that interest you most to find which language resonates with your goals and needs!
