What language should I learn to create command line scripts and GUIs? [closed]

Question

I am a "self taught" PHP programmer. So I've never taken any Computer Science classes. I've been doing more things via the command line lately and I'd really like to automate this a little more.

The problem is, I don't even know where to start. I know PHP. I can create web applications. I know how to do stuff on the command line. But I don't know the first thing about creating desktop applications. I need to learn how to create scripts that I can execute from the command line. Also, I need to learn how to create a GUI so I don't have to use the command line to execute the script (or even use a GUI to change variables, etc). I'm only interested in Linux and Mac OS X.

What would you recommend?

Answer 1

For scripting, I'd recommend going through a good resource on bash scripting. Here's a super-quick introduction to the subject. http://www.linuxconfig.org/Bash_scripting_Tutorial

For GUI programming, I personally prefer Python with wxPython. A Python tutorial is here: http://www.diveintopython.net/ and a guide to GUI programming with wxPython is here: http://wiki.wxpython.org/AnotherTutorial#The_wxPython_Linux_Tutorial

If you want Mac-specific scripting AppleScript and Automator are useful in addition to shell scripting.

Answer 2

The Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide is, in contrast to its name, actually a perfectly good introduction to Bash scripting, especially if you already have a programming background.

wxPython is good for GUI work.