I didn't realize we were going so far back. In that case, Perl may be more convenient than Python/Go, and almost certainly a better choice than bash.
Still,
> If you want to write some code (e.g., a launcher, installer, utility code, etc...) that is almost certainly going to run on any computing device created in the last several decades, bash is your language.
Can you give an example of a "several decades" old device for which you'd want/need to write a launcher or installer?
A few days ago, I tried running some code that hasn't been updated in about 5 years. The python launcher has bit-rotted, so now I need to rewrite it. The other 99% of the project compiles fine.
Things like perl (without CPAN) and bash generally take backward compatibility more seriously than python does.
My experience with python (even ignoring the 2 to 3 debacle) is that you can run code on machines that were setup +/- six months from when the software was written. That's unacceptable for non-throwaway use cases unless your company is willing to burn engineering time needlessly churning software that's feature complete and otherwise stable.
Still,
> If you want to write some code (e.g., a launcher, installer, utility code, etc...) that is almost certainly going to run on any computing device created in the last several decades, bash is your language.
Can you give an example of a "several decades" old device for which you'd want/need to write a launcher or installer?