Scripting & Database language recommend

[DrunkenMaster]

I have some C++ exposure and some scripting languges. I've studied a bit in programming. Now I'm graduating university in with a Liberal Arts major. I do have some uses for a programming language on my own time for processing 1) regular expressions 2) manipulating SQL commands and MySQL or similar database 3) maybe some simple shell programming stuff. I'm not building an OS, I'm not making shareware programs. Basically, I want to pull data from websites, CSV or excel and insert it into a MySQL or Postgre DB.

I was thinking Perl and I've looked at the syntax. The Ruby and Python language constructs with everything is an object is totally confusing to me. I'd like to learn *one* language really well on my platform of use then to mis-mash everything separately (e.g. SED for reg ex., Bash for shell scripts, etc).

And I work from a Mac - no Windows (so no VB type recommendations).

[Bazenga]

Take a look at PHP.

[azcodemonkey]

I have some C++ exposure and some scripting languges. I've studied a bit in programming. Now I'm graduating university in with a Liberal Arts major. I do have some uses for a programming language on my own time for processing 1) regular expressions 2) manipulating SQL commands and MySQL or similar database 3) maybe some simple shell programming stuff. I'm not building an OS, I'm not making shareware programs. Basically, I want to pull data from websites, CSV or excel and insert it into a MySQL or Postgre DB.

I was thinking Perl and I've looked at the syntax. The Ruby and Python language constructs with everything is an object is totally confusing to me. I'd like to learn *one* language really well on my platform of use then to mis-mash everything separately (e.g. SED for reg ex., Bash for shell scripts, etc).

And I work from a Mac - no Windows (so no VB type recommendations).

Just to be a punk, there is RealBasic for Mac. =p

You have Objective-C, C, C++ and Java capabilities inherent in your Mac due to XCode being included on your install disk or available to download. Personally, I'd use Java. It's sooooo frickin' common that code examples would be easy to come by. Perl... I just hate the syntax. I'm certain that Perl could do the job just as easily as there are many mods available for it.

[primexx]

PHP/Ruby with MySQL

[DrunkenMaster]

PHP/Ruby with MySQL

Thanks. I think I was lumping Ruby and Python and Perl together. I'm looking at the syntax for Ruby and it looks really simple (even the OOP-type stuff) which confused me with the other languages. I think I'm gonna pick up Ruby. And PHP I'll do at some point later on. I know its not super-difficult for the basic stuff I will need.

[DrunkenMaster]

I've been looking at the Ruby syntax. Its a world easier than any other computer langauge I've seen, it makes more sense to me esp arrays and objects.

I've seen some websites that are coded in Ruby inplace of PHP. Ruby has only really picked up in last few years. It seems to be a general scripting language with reg. ex (one of the requirements I need) and ability to link to databases (other requirement). Bonus is it does web based stuff which I can use for my own work (personal not professional).

So, I wanted to ask a follow up question: what is the difference between Ruby and PHP. Ruby seems to do the same as PHP (with Rails implementation from what I gather), has simpler syntax for me to learn, and Ruby seems to be more diverse with ability to use as scripting language. Is there something I'm missing? Does PHP do something Ruby doesn't? This is what I've been trying to find out with Google, etc. to no avail. Some jobs I've looked at (communicaitons related work) look for people with some website experience (mostly basic HTML). Is Ruby picking up more in workplaces, or is PHP better bet for that?