Python or JavaScript as a general use language for automation

[ldebritto]

To sum up my reading on this and help fellow newbies that may have similar doubts:

@Martin_Packer

Most modern languages have most of the bits you would want to get the job done, especially if you use them in the right setting.

Based on the examples above and in my own use cases, I guess Python would be a nicer next step in my amateur programming path.

Pros

@sylumer

Python I would say is going to give more options more easily on macOS given the level it can operate at and won’t require Node or the like to get to the deeper functionality with the OS.

And it is good to deal with general data with its pandas module

@sylumer

For your use cases, I would suggest Python first, based on the code libraries and the amount of source code available, for working with the files and content you would want to automate against.

@k.a.ll.e

If you, say, decide that you want to parse one or several csv file(s), filter the data and generate some kind of report, Python and its module “Pandas” are the best tools.

Issues

@dfay

biggest issue you’ll likely face with Python is that Apple has been bundling Python 2 for many years and is now switching to Python 3

Resources

@k.a.ll.e

To learn basic Python, I suggest the free course at CodeAcademy (link ).

A user-friendly way to use Python on mac is via Anaconda. Follow this guide to set it up: (link).

@Tjluoma

After years of meaning to get around to it, I’ve finally started trying to learn Python, and I settled on “Python Crash Course” by Eric Matthes ¹ which I believe is the intro to python book in the series which then continues with “Automating the Boring Stuff with Python”.

What about JavaScript

@sylumer

JavaScript is becoming a lingua franca across apps and platforms

@Martin_Packer

When I want localhost web serving on Mac (and I have lots of code that does this) I use PHP and javascript (and Dojo)

So it looks like a good idea to learn afterwards.

Thank you

Thank you all for these insightful answers!

Now it’s time to get som books and move past that hello world first program in Python!