[simias]

I dislike JavaScript and shell scripts equally, but sometimes I have to add a feature to a web page and I have to use JS, so I do, and sometimes I need to automate some un*x system task in a portable way and without heavy deps and shell scripts are the obvious solution.

What annoys me is using JavaScript and shell scripts when there are clearly superior alternatives and no clear advantage for it besides the familiarity (which, admittedly, can be a strong argument).

Shell scripts being an arcane mess is no excuse for Javascript being as clunky as it is, and vice-versa.

[skrebbel]

One clear advantage that both JS and Bash have over nearly every other language is stability. Code you write today is very likely to still work in 20 years.