When I started writing this article it was going to be about the choice of language people use when they create a quick dirty script for say a one off task. For this type of thing I tend to find myself using Perl and since I thought Perl was maybe a little old in the tooth, I wondered what the “cool kids” were using these days. However, this got me thinking more about the benefits of such scripts both to the programmer and their employer.

Often I find myself needing to process/generate a file in some way. To do this kind of task I feel that Java, C#, C++ etc are just waaaay too heavyweight for the task – my default reaction is that you need an interpreted language. For me this is Perl. I know PHP pretty well but it just never enters my head to use it for a command-line task, Python I kind of know but not very well, and Ruby again I just don’t know well enough, but would probably only consider this an option for a web app like PHP – no reason why I only see Ruby and PHP as web app not command-line options. So what do people use for this kind of stuff? I’m interested.

Anyway, this line of thought led me to the following observation: writing small scripts to do simple file manipulation/generation and system tasks makes you a better programmer. Even if the task you are trying to complete seems small and probably a one off, I say “write a script”. Why?

First, this may give you the opportunity to stray away from the heavyweights like Java that I mentioned above, and learn something new (the more you know the better programmer you are. Right?). Your boss may not like the idea, but the thing you are doing is work related so you can tell him it will save time, which I promise you in the long run it will. Even if you find you run the script only once you will find the learning process will have stood you in good stead.

Second, it’s an ideal way to break the monotony of your everyday work cycle. You may have been working on a particular project for months and, as happens, you are beginning to hate the thought of even looking at the code never mind write more of it. So, if you think of a script that will help you in some way in your day to day work, and will benefit both you and the company, then write it. Not only does it break the monotony but when you finish it there is also a sense of achievement that you feel by actually completing something. This sense of purpose is then reflected back into the main project; I mean you want that sense of achievement again. Right? So everyone wins.

Third, well surely the above two are more than enough reason to do it. If not tell me some more 🙂 . You can always turn the little script writing into a competition within your work, i.e. who can come up with the best/most useful script! Don’t worry about finding these types of scripts to write – I generally think of a couple everyday. Just look around you and you will be amazed at what you will find.

Over and out.