Scripting Languages

In Linux, you are not limited to using the command shell language for scripting - there are plenty of alternatives!

Language Good For More Information
Bash Shell Quick and useful for simple to moderate automation tasks linuxcommand.org/learning_the_shell.php/
Perl The System Administrator's best friend. Great for automating complex system admin tasks quickly www.perl.com/pub/2000/10/begperl1.html/
perldoc.perl.org/perlintro.html
Awk Awk is a text processing language. Sophisticated is to allow you to pull out data from any text/file. More flexible than sed www.vectorsite.net/tsawk.html
www.awktutorial.com/
Sed Sed is a text processing language. Basic interface to allow you to pull out data from any text/file www.linuxhowtos.org/System/sed_tutorial.htm
www.sedtutorial.com/
Python Alternative to Perl, often used for Web Application scripting docs.python.org/tutorial/
wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide>

If you have a specialist task, it's always worthwhile checking the web to see if there is anything better suited to scripting it!