[za-pm] is Perl on the decline?

[Spike]

perl will never die for the simple reason it works. And works fast. Ask 
a java programmer to do the equivalent of perl -p -i -e on a hundred 
500Mb files and see which app is ready first and which runs the quickest.

We have complex systems built on .net. they work, not brilliantly but 
they do work.  But simple things are often very time consuming. A quick 
example springs to mind - we need to FTP a 600Mb text files from a 
remote site and total all the numbers in the 4th, 9th and 17th columns 
depending on the value of the text in the first column. It took about 15 
mintis to write and hour to polish in perl. The .net guys are still 
trying to get the FTP to work.

So what I'm saying is that no matter how advanced and expensive your 
lazer concrete cutter is, a drill will always be faster and more 
reliable if you want to make hole.

Winston Haybittle (by way of Anne Wainwright <anotheranne at fables.co.za>) 
wrote:
> Note: Beware! Default reply-to is to the list.
> Hi Ann & Group
> We need clear roadmap for PERL 6, maybe a standards cross platform compiler.
> This is definitely not technical issue, maybe management/marketing
> optimizations needed. And then there is training and support? I mean PERL
> kills PHP hands down?! Modern day architecture with open standards means
> that Programming Language/OS lock in is less relevant. People should be
> packaging virtual appliances with Perl in the core? As is the norm with the
> very best VM appliances.
> Winston...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: za-pm-bounces+winstonh=mweb.co.za at pm.org
> [mailto:za-pm-bounces+winstonh=mweb.co.za at pm.org] On Behalf Of Anne
> Wainwright
> Sent: 06 April 2010 11:04 PM
> To: za perlmongers
> Subject: [za-pm] is Perl on the decline?
>
> Note: Default reply-to is to the poster.
> Hi,
>
> Well, is it?
>
> I was surprised (perhaps I wasn't) when I logged onto the za-pm
> list-server to find that of course it is the ubiquitous Mailman which
> is written in Python, and although it is a very capable package I
> thought we might be supporting home industries  ;) There are a number of
> mailing list managers written in perl (sympa, dadamail). Can't comment
> on whether we have the best one, but I'm happy with it anyway.
>
> Looking on the ubuntu software centre app, entering 'perl' brings up 19
> apps which is reduced to 13 if we omit editors, ide's, and perl-specific
> tools.
>
> entering 'python' brings up 99 apps reduced to 72 on the same basis.
>
> OK, figures up or down one or two, but that's a big difference. There
> are an awful lot more general applications written in Python than perl
> available for a linux box.
>
> Conversely, under IT & computer the local new book site loot.co.za
> lists 338 books under 'perl' and 207 under 'python', but of course Perl
> has been around a _lot_longer and many of the perl titles are of
> long-standing.
>
> I am (very slowly) developing an app in perl/Catalyst. Needing
> something up and running faster than I was going I found a RAD front -
> Kexi - to do the CRUD dirtywork. No suprise, buttons & stuff can have
> actions coded in Python or Ruby, but not perl! That's the KDE offering,
> the Gnome offering - Glom - also allows coding in Python but not in perl
> (or Ruby for that matter).
>
> This result could of course be skewed by the sort of programming that
> each language is typically used for. Perl is probably way ahead in the
> administration stakes, but why has it lagged behind in general useage?
> Is this a technical issue?
>
> Do we have a new generation of programmers brought up on Python and not
> perl? At the local university Python has been the starter package for
> IT for some years. They are very M$ oriented and students are not
> much exposed to linux and hence perl.
>
> I could go on, but wondered what the views on this from the
> professional world are.
>
> bestest
> Anne
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