[NBLUG/talk] Perl vs other scripting methods

[Todd Cary]

Matt -

Thank for the insights...I'll get a Python book.....

I earn my living with Delphi and appreciate how readable it is versus C.

Todd


matt wrote:
> On Tuesday 09 May 2006 11:16, Todd Cary wrote:
>   
>> I am sorry about creating some confusion when I mentioned PHP.  My
>> intent was to indicate that I am comfortable with the syntax and as I
>> recall, there is some similarity to Perl (as well as C).  By no means do
>> I intend using PHP for system level scripting.  My main question is Perl
>> versus the shell languages about which I know zip other than struggling
>> to understand some of the scripts.  Should one really go through the
>> efforts and learn the language that is used by so many scripts in Linux
>> or stick with Perl or as suggested, Python?
>>
>> Todd
>>
>>     
>
> Of course [ba]sh is the core, and if you want to go through learning it then I 
> would say like most everyone here it is a fundamental skill in the *nix 
> world; but yeah, Perl is more powerful.
>
> Honestly it depends on what you want to do ("write scrips?"). I think of it 
> this way, if you need to quickly get some coding done:
>
> If you *know* Perl, then of course use it. But you said it's been 15 years, 
> and like any language, if you don't use it for that long, you'll forget it.
> If you don't know Perl, shell, or Python and need to learn one to start 
> writing scripts, then my recommendation is Python.
>
> I'm not fanboying Python here, I'm simply saying that if you must learn a 
> language and want to actually get something accomplished as soon as possible, 
> I can almost assure you that you will spend less time learning Python than 
> the other two to expedite your coding process.
>
> Walter Hansen wrote:
>   
>> So tell me what Python is good at.
>>     
>
> I would say simply that Python is an easy but powerful language. Python is 
> good at accomplishing real programs in minimal amounts of time, and has 
> bindings to almost all major GUI toolkits. Python was created to be one of 
> the most intuitive languages out there, making it more human-readable and 
> having less unnecessary syntax than other languages (semicolons and braces 
> that are at this point in technologically useless).
>
> The main grievance I hear about Python is that "it forces a coding style on 
> you," namely the required* tabbing. Honestly, that is one of the worst 
> arguments I've heard, as it is one of the most free-form languages around. 
> First off, you *should* be tabbing your code. If you aren't, then that's a 
> problem in itself. Second, if you are so masochistic as to want to make your 
> code in one line, then you can use semicolons like; this; here; if you so 
> desire. (A Python script won an obfuscated code contest once.) Moreover, you 
> can space code how you want, and add parentheses, move things, use tabs, not 
> use tabs, whatever you please. I honestly couldn't point out a feature that C 
> has to bastardize your code that Python doesn't (not that there should be).
>
> In a nutshell, the idea is elegance. Python is an elegant, human-readable 
> language that tries to remove all of the unnecessary crap that keeps you from 
> accomplishing your job: making the program. Programming shouldn't be about 
> writing the code; it should be about developing the concept.
>
>   

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