I agree with your main point. Python does a great job of replacing lots of tiny, chained scripts. Simple API calls with wget or curl have a place, but can spiral out of control quickly if you need to introduce any grain of control like with pagination, as an example.
Maintaining one Python app (or “script”) can still adhere to the unix philosophy of simplicity but can bend some rules as far as monolithic design is concerned if you aren’t careful.
It all boils down to whether you are introducing complexity or reducing it, IMHO.
I’m not suggesting replacing the small programs with one mega Python script, I meant that even C is not a good language for that either.
If you’re chaining a bunch of stuff together through your shell environment anyway, you’re not using the low level benefits of C, so you’re just punishing yourself with having to implement everything by hand every time! Python is amazing because the syntax is clear and readable and the standard library has nearly everything you’d need if you’re not building a large application.
However since most of these things are going to be one-liners then yeah you may want to just put them in one script!
I agree with your main point. Python does a great job of replacing lots of tiny, chained scripts. Simple API calls with wget or curl have a place, but can spiral out of control quickly if you need to introduce any grain of control like with pagination, as an example.
Maintaining one Python app (or “script”) can still adhere to the unix philosophy of simplicity but can bend some rules as far as monolithic design is concerned if you aren’t careful.
It all boils down to whether you are introducing complexity or reducing it, IMHO.
I’m not suggesting replacing the small programs with one mega Python script, I meant that even C is not a good language for that either.
If you’re chaining a bunch of stuff together through your shell environment anyway, you’re not using the low level benefits of C, so you’re just punishing yourself with having to implement everything by hand every time! Python is amazing because the syntax is clear and readable and the standard library has nearly everything you’d need if you’re not building a large application.
However since most of these things are going to be one-liners then yeah you may want to just put them in one script!