diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 3c27ca114..a05adca02 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -7,6 +7,27 @@ The overall goal of this repository is to reduce the time it takes to adopt a ne Ironically, I prefer to use a Mac or a Linux as my personal computer, so hopefully the connotations associated with, `PC` aren't misleading. +# Python Scripts or Bash Scripts? + +Let me start by saying that I enjoy shell scripting. I even love the spirit of shell scripting: a +hacker's preferred tool for quickly piecing together logic to make his or her life easier. As a +staunch supporter of building one's own tools, shell-scripting has been a staple of my programming +career for multiple years. It is, however, this same hackish spirit of POSIX shell scripting that +has motivated me to seek more robust tools. + +I have decided to switch to Python scripts in lieu of shell scripts to improve the code readability +and maintainability, and write more powerful cross-platform installation and configuration scripts. +While I do worry that the switch to Python will eventually dull my knowledge of shell scripts, I +feel secure for a few reasons. Firstly, Python is widely available on most computers. Secondly, most +of my day-to-day tasks on the CLI require shell knowledge. + +I am reluctant to leave the piping syntax behind, but I am encouraged by third-party Python +libraries, such as [plumbum](http://plumbum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/), that are attempting to +provide this syntactic convenience to Python. This should not be seen as my farewell to Bash +scripting. That is too severe. Instead, I see this as a necessary upgrade for my tooling and my +foray into writing more sophisticated tools for myself and others. + + # GnuPG 1. Download public key from keyserver