From my perspective as a software developer, it looks like JavaScript is going to be the next big language for automation scripting.  Perl is probably still the most popular scripting language on the planet, but it doesn't play well in the Java ecosystem which has become the standard platform for enterprise applications (including Network Automation and Network Node Manager).

The leading contenders for scripting languages in the Java world are Rhino (JavaScript), JRuby, Jython (Python) and Groovy.  Since JavaScript has been the language of the browser for years, it seems well positioned to be the next big language.  JavaScript has become my language of choice for accessing the Network Automation Java API.

What languages are you using for automation scripting?  What do you see as the next big language?  You should share your thoughts in the comments.  Thanks!