When comparing sh vs Basic, the Slant community recommends Basic for most people. In the question“What is the easiest programming language to learn for a non-programmer (actually used for production)?” Basic is ranked 7th while sh is ranked 19th. The most important reason people chose Basic is:
If you choose the Basic route, which you shouldn't, then at least make it VB.net.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Truely the most broadly available shell
It may not be the best if you want power, but if you want to write a POSIX script that will run everywhere, it's a pretty good choice.
Pro Most influential Unix shell alongside csh
Bourne shell introduced features such as piping, here documents, command substitution, variables, control structures for condition-testing and looping and filename wildcarding.
Pro Visual Basic .net
If you choose the Basic route, which you shouldn't, then at least make it VB.net.
Pro Lots of choice
Pro Lots of information available
Although there are lots of examples and tutorials to be found, for a beginner it can be difficult to find good material as there are also lots of bad examples around.
Cons
Con Not suitable for interactive use
The Bourne shell has always been criticized (most notably by Bill Joy, author of csh) as being unfriendly for interactive use.
It has no tilde (~) expansion. Limited file test operators. Limited math operators.
Con Not highly regarded by professionals
Not the best choice when looking for a job.
