Howdy, Ubuntu on Windows! Write and Execute Your First Program

August 1, 2016

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Microsoft’s addition of the Bash shell and Ubuntu user space in Windows 10 is a real win for developers working in dynamic, interpreted programming languages everywhere. Dozens of dynamic script interpreters are now immediately available on Windows desktops.

In this article, we’re going to write the classic “hello world” application in several different dynamically executed languages, install any necessary dependencies, and execute our interpreted code.

If you’d like to follow along this article and try out these examples, you can grab all of the source code from Git:

$ sudo apt update

$ sudo apt install -y git

$ git clone https://github.com/dustinkirkland/howdy-windows.git

$ cd howdy-windows

Now, let’s look at each language:

Bash

Installation
- None, bash is always installed in the default image, but just in case…
- sudo apt install -y bash
Code: bash/howdy.sh

#!/bin/sh

echo ” ====> Shell: Howdy, Windows!”

Compilation
- None, bash is an interpreted language
Execution

$ chmod +x ./bash/howdy.sh

$ ./bash/howdy.sh

====> Shell: Howdy, Windows!

Python

Installation
- None, python is always installed in the default image, but just in case…

$ sudo apt install -y python

Code: python/howdy.py

#!/usr/bin/python

print(” ====> Python: Howdy, Windows!”)

Compilation
- None, python is an interpreted language
Execution

$ chmod +x ./python/howdy.py

$ ./python/howdy.py

====> Python: Howdy, Windows!

Perl

Installation

$ sudo apt install -y perl

Code: perl/howdy.pl

#!/usr/bin/perl

print(” ====> Perl: Howdy, Windows!n”);

Compilation
- None, Perl is an interpreted language
Execution

$ chmod +x ./perl/howdy.pl

$ ./perl/howdy.pl

====> Perl: Howdy, Windows!

Ruby

Installation

$ sudo apt install -y ruby

Code: ruby/howdy.rb

#!/usr/bin/ruby

puts ” ====> Ruby: Howdy, Windows!”

Compilation
- None, Ruby is an interpreted language
Execution

$ chmod +x ./ruby/howdy.rb

$ ./ruby/howdy.rb

====> Ruby: Howdy, Windows!

Installation

$ sudo apt install -y php5-cli

Code: php/howdy.php

#!/usr/bin/php

<?php

print(” ===> PHP: Howdy, Windows!n”)

Compilation
- None, PHP is an interpreted language
Execution

$ chmod +x ./php/howdy.php

$ ./php/howdy.php

===> PHP: Howdy, Windows!

Node.js

Installation

$ sudo apt install -y nodejs

Code: nodejs/howdy.js

console.log(‘ ====> NodeJS: Howdy, Windows!’);

Compilation
- None, Node.js is an interpreted language
Execution

$ nodejs nodejs//howdy.js

====> NodeJS: Howdy, Windows!

Cheers,

Dustin

Read the next article in the series: Howdy, Ubuntu on Windows! Writing for Compiled Languages

Read previous articles in the series:

Howdy, Ubuntu on Windows! An Intro From Canonical’s Dustin Kirkland

Howdy, Ubuntu on Windows! Getting Started

Howdy, Ubuntu on Windows! Ubuntu Commands Every Windows User Should Learn

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