[Melbourne-pm] perl, CGI and php questions
Andrew Dent
sgc294 at internode.on.net
Sat Aug 23 18:27:10 PDT 2008
G'day John
Here is my own take on these topics
"[1] No disrespect to perl, but why are jobsites like SEEK dominated
by jobs in php programming in web programming? "
"even companies that I hear are 'X' companies seem to have
lots of Perl, they just don't mention it - not sure why."
Here is what I experienced when I found Perl:
I first "discovered Perl" mid last year, even though the ERP systems
(Terminal and Web based) I had been using for years had been built on
Perl. A little while after I starting my current role of providing User
and DBA support for these ERP systems, I discovered Perl. Not long after
this, I requested (and received) approval to be sent on a Perl Training
Australia training course (excellent course). What is interesting about
this, is when I suggested to my manager that being sent on a Perl course
would be a good idea, I received the unexpected question of "What is
Perl?". This was odd, because my manager had been in her current
position for almost 10 years, yet she had no idea that the systems she
was responsible for in Asia to provide User and DBA support, were built
using Perl.
Now I often use Perl to automate SQL queries and create small internal
websites for various people. But none of them need know what I used to
provide them the help they needed.
Not even the global management for these ERP systems ever discussed in
teleconferences that Perl is used.
So I take from this, that Perl found its way in "under the radar". The
Software Architects and Engineers who designed and constructed the ERP
system obviously know Perl, but never felt the need to communicate to
the management what language they were using. Nor does it seem that the
management ever have need to ask.
Looking back at the Internal Job Ad for my current role, there was no
mention of Perl. Even though I now use it quite often, and read through
the Perl code of the ERP Systems to help understand how things work.
Editors:
Everyone has their preference on these.
At the beginning of my Perl discovery, I used Notepad++.
But after coming across a website article describing the various popular
Editors and there Pros and Cons. I shifted to using Komodo, which is
produced by Active State. They have a free community edition that is
available from this URL.
http://www.openkomodo.com/
I still use Notepad++ occasionally as it installs nicely onto my USB
stick. Useful if on someone else's PC.
Komodo has the nice features of Notepad++ but also provides things
important to me such as Remote File editing, vi emulation and auto text
completion of Perl modules and functions when coding. So now I can edit
Perl code on my PC that actually lives on a remote server, without have
to manually transfer files around the place after an edit.
Perl Distro:
On Windows I first started using Active State Perl. Then at the Perl
Training Australia training course, I heard about Strawberry Perl. This
was good, because I was having trouble with installing some modules I
needed into Active State Perl. Strawberry Perl does require a little
more knowledge of computers to use than Active State Perl, but for the
types of modules I am interested in I only have occasional trouble now.
Like Editors, everyone will have their preference. So try Active State
first. If you find that some modules you need are not available, or are
difficult to install manually, give Strawberry Perl a go.
Local Web server:
When you are feeling brave you could try this.
Run a Virtual Linux server on your PC.
Install Virtual PC from Microsoft's website.
Then download Ubuntu Server 8.04 and install it into your Virtual PC.
During the install select the LAMP and Openssh Server options.
See these URLs for some guidance.
http://arcanecode.wordpress.com/2006/09/20/virtual-pc-step-by-step/
http://www.cosky.com/installing_ubuntu_lamp_server_within_microsoft_virtual_pc
When creating the Virtual Machine to install Ubuntu Server in, you can
get by with as little as 128 MB of RAM allocated to the Virtual machine
and 1 GB of disk space for the hard disk. Ubuntu Server 8.04 with LAMP
and Openssh installed will take up ~600 MB so for learning some Perl,
the left over 400 MB should be ample.
This will give you a Apache Web Server with Perl installed on your PC.
Cheers
Andrew
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> Today's Topics:
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> 1. perl, CGI and php questions (John Thornton)
> 2. Re: perl, CGI and php questions (Scott Penrose)
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:06:07 +1000
> From: "John Thornton" <jdthornton at ozemail.com.au>
> Subject: [Melbourne-pm] perl, CGI and php questions
> To: <melbourne-pm at pm.org>
> Cc: John Thornton <jdthornton at ozemail.com.au>
> Message-ID: <B00E65E80E764C73AEA3A5BB455D297F at home2>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
>
> [1] No disrespect to perl, but why are jobsites like SEEK dominated
> by jobs in php programming in web programming?
>
> [2] If I make a correct script in another language, php, Java etc, do
> I save it to the same cgi-bin that worked for perl? That is, assuming that
> again it is intended for browser formatting.
>
>
> Yours sincerely
> John
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 20:49:24 +1000
> From: Scott Penrose <scottp at dd.com.au>
> Subject: Re: [Melbourne-pm] perl, CGI and php questions
> To: "John Thornton" <jdthornton at ozemail.com.au>
> Cc: melbourne-pm at pm.org
> Message-ID: <6260F94D-32D5-4B94-BD68-AC624BF45F93 at dd.com.au>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>
>
> On 23/08/2008, at 8:06 PM, John Thornton wrote:
>
>
>> [1] No disrespect to perl, but why are jobsites like SEEK
>> dominated
>> by jobs in php programming in web programming?
>>
>
> Interesting question. Lots of potential answers. Mine would be purely
> age. Perl has been around so long and is everywhere that it is sort of
> boring. It is a bit like not reading many jobs for C. This could be
> crazy, but even companies that I hear are 'X' companies seem to have
> lots of Perl, they just don't mention it - not sure why.
>
>
>> [2] If I make a correct script in another language, php, Java
>> etc, do
>> I save it to the same cgi-bin that worked for perl? That is,
>> assuming that
>> again it is intended for browser formatting.
>>
>
> Yes. Most of what you have learnt here - e.g. Content-type, cgi-bin
> directory, Apache config applies to any language. You could write in
> C, C++, Perl, Python, PHP, and more and can use cgi-bin.
>
> You should know there is other choices - e.g. Perl has mod_perl, PHP
> has mod_php (the most common way of doing php), etc - but you can
> always go back to simple CGI Bin directories as a good starting point.
>
> Enjoy
>
> Scott
>
>
>> Yours sincerely
>> John
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