PLAYterm: a New Way To Improve Command Line Skills
chrb writes "Linux Journal points out PLAYterm, an interesting project that offers up recordings of Linux command line sessions, with the aim of helping viewers to improve their skills by watching gurus at work." And there's no bad excuse to link to Neal Stephenson's excellent (and free-to-download in delicious zipped-text form) In the Beginning was the Command Line.
Use python or perl for complex tasks by all means, but they are a poor substitute for what the shell is good for.