Next pdx.pm meeting

Curtis Poe cp at onsitetech.com
Thu Feb 7 13:58:37 CST 2002


----- Original Message -----
From: <mikeraz at patch.com>
To: "Colin Kuskie" <ckuskie at dalsemi.com>
Cc: "Randal L. Schwartz" <merlyn at stonehenge.com>; "Curtis Poe"
<cp at onsitetech.com>; "Austin Schutz" <tex at off.org>; <pdx-pm-list at pm.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2002 11:45 AM
Subject: Re: Next pdx.pm meeting


> Don't forget to get my @_ privs pulled too, the omission of
> shell was unintentional.
>
> pico ... bah!
>
> Hey you all missed someone on another list telling Randal that
> he was wrong - no need for Postgres over MySQL because you
> can script the functionality missing from MySQL in Perl.
>
> Randal's response showed why Perl is not the tool for EveryJob.

I saw the thread and it was, um, interesting.  Randal's point was that
database functionality belongs in (surprise!) the database.  Pushing it into
the program is a sure sign that someone probably didn't think things
through.  Perl may be the Swiss Army Chainsaw of programming, but let's face
it, when was the last time someone used a Swiss Army Knife for building a
boat?  Yeah, you might be able to do it, but just because someone *can* do
something doesn't mean they should.

That, incidentally, is related to why I hate programming language bigotry
(unless you're talking about COBOL and JCL - I still have nightmares).
Sure, I have some serious problems with how Java does some things (for
example, StringBuffer was created because the String class blows chunks and
it displays some fundamental design problems with the language) but I have
no problem with Java.  It's a great tool if it's what you need.

Heck, even VB has its uses.  Yes, I have problems with VB also, but it's
perfectly appropriate for many programming tasks.

Perl advocacy is great, so long as we recognize that we might be putting on
blinders.  In short, use tools for their strengths, not their weaknesses.

Cheers,
--
Curtis "Ovid" Poe, Senior Programmer, ONSITE! Technology
Someone asked me how to count to 10 in Perl:
push @A, $_ for reverse q.e...q.n.;for(@A){$_=unpack(q|c|,$_);@a=split//;
shift @a;shift @a if $a[$[]eq$[;$_=join q||, at a};print $_,$/for reverse @A


TIMTOWTDI



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