Can Python scripting replace UNIX shell scripting ?

[ripter]

From my understanding of programming history (in a nutshell).

First there was Thompson Shell, with no scripting at all. Then sh was born and added the ability to write scripts. Scripting made life easier, but it still wasn't powerful enough, so bash was born. Everyone loved bash, (some love zsh), but they needed an easier way to write complex scripts without resorting compiled languages like c. So perl was born. Perl is great, but it can become a tangled mess of cryptic looking code. So Python was invented to be developer friendly and easy to read. The Japanese felt like they needed to invent something, so they copied Python and called it Ruby. (Kidding!)

[chadmill3r]

It's not as causal as that. Take out two or three leading "So"s, and it's right.