I am a windows system administrator and started learning python (as an alternative to VBScript) for the following reasons.
1) VBScript has serious limitations as a language 2) Needed access to TCP/IP protocols 3) Ability to to write scripts with GUI. 4) Portability Windows system administrators need to know VBScript because that is what most other Windows admins use and thus most examples are written in this language. However point 1-4 above are serious limitations of VBScript Now Powershell has arrived windows has its own usable shell. Of course the popular tools (and shells) for Unix have been available for a long time on Windows but the problem is not just the shell. If it is more appropiat to use awk or bash or sed on Linux, why not use awk or bash or sed on Windows.? Python does not compete with the shell but complements it. Indeed for a system administrator learning Python is a great investment in the future precisely because what you learn can then be used with other operating systems. Powershell can use .NET objects but, as I understand it, cannot use .NET libraries to produce interactive gui scripts. However I think it addresses point 2) above as .NET does come with TCP/IP libraries. The only drawback to using Python for Windows System administration is the lack of uptodate books dedicated to it. A good book dedicated to this topic will sell well. Peter Jessop MSCE
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