From: Geoff Zinderdine (geoffz@mts.net)
Date: Mon Nov 25 2002 - 14:35:15 GMT-3
> What programming languages a network engineer MIGHT need to perform his
job?
TCL (pronounced 'tickle') and Expect are phenomenally useful to have in your
bag of tricks. Perl and shell scripting are also great timeservers. These
greatly contribute to your versatility as a network engineer.
> What do network engineers or adminiastrators do with a programming
language?
> please elaborate
Expect is a TCL application that automates interactive processes. You could
script the process of logging into routers saving the configs to a central
location in a particular directory, checking particular show command
information and alerting you with an email on error conditions, IOS upgrades
on many boxes-- any repetitive task that can be handled by a
semi-intelligent process. Perl and shell scripting can similarly animate
tasks for network management.
> I am looking to learn a couple of programming language that I may need on
> the job and I need you advice.
Scripting languages mask allot of the lower level complexity of programming
languages like C. As such it is quite easy to develop proficiency with
them. Mastery is another thing entirely, but you could be making useful
scripts within hours. If you are interested in studying tcl and expect on a
Windows box, get the interpreters from http://www.activestate.com . Most
unices already include TCL and Expect. The best book for Expect is
"Exploring Expect" from O'Reilly.
HTH,
Geoff Zinderdine
CCIE #10410
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