The choice of programming language for a system administrator depends on the specific tasks and requirements they have. However, there are a few programming languages that are commonly used and well-suited for system administration tasks. Here are some of the popular ones:

Python

Python is widely regarded as one of the best programming languages for system administration. It has a simple and readable syntax, a vast number of libraries and modules, and excellent support for automation tasks. Python is often used for scripting, writing automation scripts, and developing tools for managing systems, networks, and infrastructure.

Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language that was first released in 1991. It was created by Guido van Rossum and has since become one of the most popular programming languages worldwide. Python emphasizes code readability, simplicity, and developer productivity.

Python’s syntax is designed to be clean and easy to understand, with a focus on using indentation for code blocks instead of explicit braces or keywords. This makes Python code highly readable and reduces the likelihood of syntax errors.

Python has a gentle learning curve, making it an excellent choice for beginners. Its syntax is clear and concise, and the language provides a wealth of documentation, tutorials, and community support to help newcomers get started.

Python is a versatile language that can be used for a wide range of applications. It supports multiple programming paradigms, including procedural, object-oriented, and functional programming styles. Python can be used for web development, scientific computing, data analysis, artificial intelligence, automation, scripting, and more.

Python comes with a comprehensive standard library that provides a wide range of modules and functions for common programming tasks. This library covers areas such as file I/O, networking, regular expressions, threading, and more. The standard library reduces the need to rely on external packages for many common programming tasks. Using libraries means you won’t have to write as much code from scratch.

Python has a vibrant ecosystem with a vast number of third-party libraries and frameworks that extend its capabilities. Popular libraries like NumPy, Pandas, TensorFlow, Django, Flask, and PyTorch provide powerful tools for scientific computing, data analysis, machine learning, web development, and more. This extensive ecosystem allows developers to leverage existing solutions and accelerate their development process.

Python is available on multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and various UNIX systems. This cross-platform compatibility allows developers and sys admins to write code that can run on different operating systems without significant modifications.

Bash

While not a traditional programming language, Bash (Bourne Again SHell) is a scripting language commonly used in UNIX and Linux environments. It is particularly useful for writing shell scripts to automate repetitive tasks, manage system configurations, and execute command-line operations. For system administrators who do not need to code anything too complex, bash might be the best programming language to learn.

Bash allows users to execute commands directly from the command line. It supports a wide range of commands and utilities found in UNIX-like operating systems. Users can run individual commands or chain them together to create powerful command pipelines.

One of the primary strengths of Bash is its ability to write shell scripts. Shell scripts are collections of commands written in Bash that can be executed as a single unit. Bash scripts can automate repetitive tasks, execute sequences of commands, process input/output, and control system configurations.

Bash provides support for variables, allowing you to store and manipulate data. It also offers various control flow constructs, such as conditionals (if-else statements), loops (for and while loops), and functions. These features enable complex logic and decision-making within Bash scripts.

Bash provides extensive support for customizing the environment and shell behavior. Users can define aliases, environment variables, and shell options to tailor their working environment to their specific needs. Configuration files like .bashrc and .bash_profile allow users to set up their preferred shell environment on login.

Bash offers powerful mechanisms for command substitution and expansion. Command substitution allows the output of a command to be captured and used within another command. Expansion, such as variable expansion or wildcard expansion (globbing), helps with manipulating and generating command arguments dynamically.

Bash supports job control, which allows users to manage multiple processes running concurrently. Users can start, pause, resume, and stop background processes, as well as manage input/output redirection and pipeline manipulation.

Bash can be extended using external utilities and scripts. It integrates with a wide range of tools and programs, allowing users to leverage their functionalities within Bash scripts.

Bash’s scripting capabilities, command-line interactivity, and its presence in UNIX and Linux systems have made it a popular choice for system administrators, developers, and power users. Its ability to automate tasks, interact with the operating system, and control the execution of commands make it a versatile tool for system administration, shell scripting, and general command-line operations. Bash might not be a great programming language for Windows system administrators.

PowerShell

PowerShell is a scripting language developed by Microsoft specifically for system administration in Windows environments. It provides powerful capabilities for managing and automating Windows systems, including remote administration, managing Active Directory, and working with Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).

PowerShell is built on the .NET framework and employs an object-oriented approach. Instead of working primarily with text-based output like traditional shells, PowerShell treats command outputs as structured objects. This object-oriented nature allows for more flexible and powerful manipulation of data.

PowerShell uses commandlets, which are small, self-contained commands that perform specific actions. Commandlets can be combined in pipelines, allowing the output of one commandlet to serve as input to another. This composability enables the creation of complex workflows and the efficient chaining of operations.

PowerShell is tightly integrated with the Windows operating system, providing access to a wide range of system management capabilities. It can interact with various system components, including the registry, services, event logs, Active Directory, WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation), and more.

In addition to the Windows version, PowerShell Core was developed as an open-source, cross-platform edition of PowerShell. PowerShell Core can run on Windows, macOS, and various Linux distributions, expanding its reach beyond the Windows ecosystem.

PowerShell excels in scripting and automation tasks. It offers a robust scripting language with support for variables, loops, conditionals, functions, error handling, and more. PowerShell scripts can be used to automate repetitive administrative tasks, create system management tools, and orchestrate complex workflows.

PowerShell supports the use of modules, which are collections of related functions, commandlets, and scripts. Modules provide reusable code and can be shared across systems or within teams. PowerShell also allows the creation and use of script libraries, making it easy to organize and share scripts.

The PowerShell ISE is an integrated development environment that provides a graphical interface for developing, testing, and debugging PowerShell scripts. It includes features such as syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, script pane, and debugging tools to enhance productivity.

PowerShell offers robust remoting capabilities, allowing administrators to execute commands and scripts on remote machines. It also includes Desired State Configuration (DSC), a declarative model for defining and maintaining consistent system configurations across multiple machines.

PowerShell’s integration with Windows, its object-oriented approach, and its extensive automation capabilities make it a powerful tool for system administrators, IT professionals, and developers working in Windows environments. Its rich feature set, coupled with its strong community support and documentation, make PowerShell a valuable asset for managing and automating administrative tasks. This might not be the best language for Linux sys admins. See Bash above for a better programming language for linux sys admins.

Ruby

Ruby is a dynamic and object-oriented scripting language known for its simplicity and productivity. It has a strong community and offers numerous libraries and frameworks that can assist with system administration tasks. Tools like Chef and Puppet, used for configuration management, are written in Ruby.

Ruby is a fully object-oriented language, meaning that everything in Ruby is an object. It supports principles such as classes, objects, inheritance, and polymorphism, making it easy to create and manipulate objects.

Ruby has a clean and readable syntax that focuses on human-friendly code. It emphasizes natural language-like constructs and provides expressive syntax, allowing developers to write code that is easy to understand and maintain.

Ruby is dynamically typed, which means that variable types are determined at runtime. Developers don’t need to explicitly declare variable types, allowing for more flexibility and faster development cycles. However, it also means that potential type-related errors may only be discovered at runtime.

Ruby is well-known for its metaprogramming capabilities, allowing developers to modify and extend the language itself. Metaprogramming enables the creation of highly flexible and expressive code by modifying classes and objects at runtime.

RubyGems is Ruby’s package manager, providing a vast ecosystem of libraries and frameworks that can be easily installed and managed. Bundler is a tool that helps manage project dependencies, making it easier to set up and maintain Ruby projects.

Ruby gained significant popularity with the advent of Ruby on Rails, a powerful web application framework built on top of Ruby. Rails provides a convention-over-configuration approach, enabling rapid development and emphasizing best practices for building web applications.

Ruby is available on various platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, making it versatile and accessible for different environments and a great language for all system administrators.

Ruby’s focus on developer happiness, elegant syntax, and its association with Ruby on Rails have made it popular for web development. However, Ruby’s versatility extends beyond web development, and it can be used for scripting, automation, system administration, and other application development tasks. Its ease of use and expressive nature make it a suitable choice for beginners as well as experienced developers seeking productivity and enjoyment in their programming endeavors.

Go

Go (or Golang) is a statically-typed programming language created by Google. It is designed to be efficient, simple, and reliable, making it a good choice for system administration tasks that require high performance, such as building tools, daemons, or microservices. Go also provides built-in support for concurrent programming.

Go has a simple and minimalistic syntax designed for clarity and readability. It aims to minimize the amount of code needed to express concepts, making it easier to understand and maintain. Go follows a “less is more” philosophy, focusing on essential language features while reducing complexity.

Go is a statically-typed language, which means that variable types are checked at compile-time. This helps catch errors early in the development process. Go compiles to native machine code, resulting in efficient and performant executables.

Go has built-in support for concurrency through goroutines and channels. Goroutines are lightweight threads that allow concurrent execution of functions, while channels provide a way to safely communicate and synchronize data between goroutines. This concurrency model simplifies writing scalable and efficient concurrent programs.

Go includes a garbage collector (GC) that automatically manages memory allocation and deallocation. The GC helps developers focus on writing code without manual memory management, improving productivity and reducing the likelihood of memory-related errors.

Go comes with a comprehensive standard library that provides a wide range of functionality, including networking, file I/O, text processing, encryption, and more. The standard library is well-documented and designed to be consistent and efficient.

Go offers a robust set of development tools, including a compiler, formatter, and package manager (go get and go modules). The Go toolchain provides a smooth development experience, with features like automatic code formatting and fast compilation times.

Go is designed to be portable and supports multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, and more. This allows developers to write code that can run on different operating systems without significant modifications.

Go has a rapidly growing ecosystem with a wide range of open-source libraries and frameworks. Popular projects like Docker, Kubernetes, and Prometheus are written in Go, showcasing its capabilities for building scalable and high-performance systems.

Go’s focus on simplicity, efficiency, and concurrency makes it a popular choice for building networked and distributed systems, cloud-native applications, and microservices. Its strong community support, clear documentation, and powerful standard library contribute to its appeal among developers seeking performance, productivity, and scalability in their projects.

Programming Languages That Are Not Useful For Sys Admins

There are a few languages that are generally considered less suitable or not commonly used by system administrators for their day-to-day tasks. Here are a few examples:

Objective-C/Swift

Objective-C and Swift are programming languages primarily used for macOS and iOS application development. System administrators working with these platforms may encounter Objective-C or Swift code when troubleshooting or configuring applications, but it is not typically used by administrators for their own scripting or automation tasks.

COBOL

COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language) is a programming language primarily used in the banking and financial sectors, particularly for mainframe systems. While COBOL has a long history and is still in use in some legacy systems, it is not a language commonly utilized by system administrators for general administration tasks due to its specialized nature.

Visual Basic (VB)

Visual Basic is a programming language often associated with Windows application development and automation. While it can be used for certain system administration tasks in Windows environments, it is less commonly used compared to PowerShell, Python, or other languages specifically designed for system administration.

Perl

Perl used to be a very popular language used by sys admins and others. It is a general purpose language that can be used for many things. Today, very few people use Perl for anything other than maintaining old systems. Modern languages like Python and Go have replaced Perl. Unless you are working on a system where most of the code is already written in Perl, do not bother learning this language.

It’s important to note that while these languages may not be commonly used by system administrators for their core tasks, they may still have niche applications or be encountered in specific contexts.

Ultimately, the best programming language for a system administrator depends on their familiarity and comfort with a particular language, as well as the specific requirements and environment they work in. Many system administrators use a combination of different languages based on the task at hand.