What are the parallel(s) to applescript in BSD? What's the difference?

Question

I'm considering a switch to BSD. I'm interested in what tool(s) are used in BSD for scripting of the kind done with applescript in OSX.

Answer 1

Although shell scripts are at the core of scripting in the different BSDs, much is done with Perl, Python, Ruby and Lua. I'm sure there are plenty more options, it really depends on what you like and possibly what comes with your distribution.

OpenBSD comes with Perl in the base, NetBSD has Lua now partly integrated into the kernel but I don't believe FreeBSD has anything but shell scripting available in a default install.