[ANN] This Week in LiveCode 259

[Richard Gaskin]

Andre Garzia wrote:

 > On 24 Mar 2021, at 23:50, Richard Gaskin wrote:
 >>
 >> And with Windows 10, Microsoft is now embracing Linux in its Windows
 >> Subsystem for Linux, so Win folk can enjoy industry standard tooling
 >> on all OSes:
...
 > If you have control of the Windows machine, then you can set it up to
 > run as you want, but if you’re shipping software for end-users, you
 > can’t assume WSL Ubuntu is there so you can run rsync.
 >
 > I know you didn’t say that but often I see scripts in other
 > communities that assume a ton of stuff (even on macOS where
 > many scripts assume homebrew is present).

True, I didn't say that. What I said was:

     In this discussion of personal plugins run on macOS,
     a macOS solution seemed appropriate.

We often see AppleScript presented on this list, as it was in this 
discussion as well.  But it's far less pervasive than bash: it's only 
available on macOS, with no option at all for using it anywhere else. 
And it's only well supported in an ever-smaller percentage of apps (not 
to mention slow, finicky, and hugely unpopular with the Steve Jobs/NeXT 
acolytes running much of Apple's tech divisions).

For most sysadmin tasks, these days Apple nudges us toward shell, with a 
large and growing number of bash examples in their dev docs.  macOS 
being a certified Unix, bash is a good choice for Apple to promote, and 
for developers and sysadmins to use.


Of course for any customer-facing solution we'll want to be mindful of 
dependencies.

But since everyone here is a developer, and this discussion is about 
developers making tools for themselves, appreciating the full scope of 
options available to us doesn't seem a mistake.

Modern macOS development increasingly means being familiar with 
Terminal. Time spent there is not only necessary for many things, but as 
we learn how to integrate the shell with LiveCode the options for 
automation of both local and remote workflows becomes nearly as 
limitless as one's imagination.



As for Windows, Microsoft doesn't pour millions into building out 
subsystems on a whim. Their embrace of the Linux shell for developers is 
as much a part of their well-thought-out strategy as Nadella's embrace 
of open source.

Microsoft understands what we see in the work that comes our own desks: 
in the modern world, software development is usually client-server 
development, with half of most systems we deliver living in the cloud.

Microsoft IIS remains deeply entrenched within the enterprise, but most 
things customer-facing are Linux. Indeed, even on Microsoft's own Azure 
the most popular OS is Ubuntu.

Like Apple, Microsoft is actively encouraging devs to consider adopting 
bash as a prime choice for admin tasks.  It's where the tooling is, and 
on dev systems it's being made ever more available for today's 
interoperable workflows.

We don't have a truly universal admin language, but bash is as close as 
we get right now:  built into every Mac, native to every Linux server we 
work with, and with strong developer support by Microsoft.

--
Richard Gaskin
Fourth World Systems