[chubot]

Yes, in writing my bash parser/interpreter (see below) I explored the non-nested arrays and assoc arrays issue.

I think it mainly has to do with the fact that bash has no references and garbage collection. When you create an array like [1, 2, [a, b]] in Python/Ruby/Perl, you are introducing the concept of references, as well introducing hte potential for reference cycles.

In contrast, an array in bash is just a value, and it took me awhile to figure out how to even copy it. None of these work:

    a=('x y' z)

    b=${a}
    b=${a[*]}
    b=${a[@]}

    b="${a[*]}"
    b="${a[@]}"

    b=( ${a} )
    b=( ${a[*]} )
    b=( ${a[@]} )

    b=( "${a}" )
    b=( "${a[*]}" )

This works:

    b=( "${a[@]}" )

In other words, it takes 11 characters to properly copy an array! This syntax is horrible.

[jstimpfle]

What's more horrible about it is that the simpler sh constructs are somehow not respected in bash culture.

In sh, each function has a local array, and you use that array with "$@". And typically you can get along with only that array. Not so bad.

    my_b() {
        somefunc foo "$@" bar
    }