Comment Re:Perl vrs. Python (Score 1) 185
So, you know why perl sucks, but you don't know enough to have any samples handy other than one you say is from an O'Rielly book: as others have noted, it won't compile, but that's not even the point.
Perl has more than its share of haters, but look at what is built in perl: banking systems, systems used in genomics, on Wall Street, those automated Amazon warehouses, this discussion board where those who don't know Perl declare boldly that it is useless.
The language is widely used by engineers in various industries to solve all sorts of problems that have nothing to do with CGI or servlets and which have no need for the do-it-yourself memory management of C or the strict object structure of Java.
The Homer Simpson reaction is commonplace, wherein newbies look at a section of perl code and declare it to be "hard to read" or whatnot. Perl is extremely easy to read if coded by someone who cares about such things. Perl is difficult to learn, but learning it unlocks the real power.
C is never easy to read. And as for Python, its a cool language, but where is the CPAN? the vaults of parnyssus is much less organized and mature than CPAN, and there's way too much 0.01 releases. Python is perl with better object structure, no CPAN and no curly brackets. Its biggest problem is that Perl was first, and many of us will continue to use perl.
The CPAN note is an especially important one here in the real world: You can get a CPAN module that will assist in pretty much any IT-related task you could think of.
In the real world, there are other things you must deal with also: getting automated reports to higher-level management, based on god knows what source of data, development time, processing various data in various situations, generating weekly graphs without pointing-and-clicking your way through Excel every friday. Those of us who use Perl have programs doing our jobs for us, doing all these things, and anything you can imagine pertaining to unix administration.
Perl can also be used to develop big projects, rapidly, and cheaply. Programming Perl is said to be one of the most popular books in the semiconductor industry. If you use linux or use the internet, you're using Perl at one point or another, i could go on, but won't.
Perl has more than its share of haters, but look at what is built in perl: banking systems, systems used in genomics, on Wall Street, those automated Amazon warehouses, this discussion board where those who don't know Perl declare boldly that it is useless.
The language is widely used by engineers in various industries to solve all sorts of problems that have nothing to do with CGI or servlets and which have no need for the do-it-yourself memory management of C or the strict object structure of Java.
The Homer Simpson reaction is commonplace, wherein newbies look at a section of perl code and declare it to be "hard to read" or whatnot. Perl is extremely easy to read if coded by someone who cares about such things. Perl is difficult to learn, but learning it unlocks the real power.
C is never easy to read. And as for Python, its a cool language, but where is the CPAN? the vaults of parnyssus is much less organized and mature than CPAN, and there's way too much 0.01 releases. Python is perl with better object structure, no CPAN and no curly brackets. Its biggest problem is that Perl was first, and many of us will continue to use perl.
The CPAN note is an especially important one here in the real world: You can get a CPAN module that will assist in pretty much any IT-related task you could think of.
In the real world, there are other things you must deal with also: getting automated reports to higher-level management, based on god knows what source of data, development time, processing various data in various situations, generating weekly graphs without pointing-and-clicking your way through Excel every friday. Those of us who use Perl have programs doing our jobs for us, doing all these things, and anything you can imagine pertaining to unix administration.
Perl can also be used to develop big projects, rapidly, and cheaply. Programming Perl is said to be one of the most popular books in the semiconductor industry. If you use linux or use the internet, you're using Perl at one point or another, i could go on, but won't.
