A great beginning...
I am NOT a programmer or a script maven, but I often have to cobble together a script or two to get specific things done. In an attempt to get things done I have scanned through many texts in books and online and never has this simple explanation be provided.
I have only read two books that have taken an overview of creating instructions, (one was an old NT scripting book that I still have somewhere and the other was a book that took the view that you could look at programming through the tasks you need to do and figure out how to do things you want to do by asking the question, "How would you do that task in this language.") both helpful, but I would like to see a book with this overview written about both programming and scripting. There are many good books on specific languages that usually dive right into information packed pages on specific uses of the language.
This article would be a great introduction to a simple book on the simple tasks that most people need to do with a script as well as a book of the same caliber on doing simple programming as a follow-up. I would like to see the first chapter be something like:
I want to do these things. Is it better to learn a programming language and use it to fix my problem or can it be done with a scripting language? How do you pick which tool for which job? A task oriented book or series of articles is rare to be found.
No one actually discusses the problem to be FIXED first and then starts at the beginning to explain how you get to what tools to use, and THEN how you use them as well as why they are the best solution. The best tool for the best job.
As an example the problem of your reader, lay out a task a simple task and show how it is done with simple examples of scripts in each OS.
Mike
