Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 11th May 2010 23:17 UTC, submitted by PLan
"Lately, the Perl language has had less buzz surrounding it than many other languages and development environments, but Perl is still a key component on the Internet. For this guest post, we asked Jeff Hobbs, Director of Engineering at ActiveState, to weigh in on the topic."
Thread beginning with comment 424064
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
RE[3]: don't really agree
by zlynx on Thu 13th May 2010 04:10
in reply to "RE[2]: don't really agree"
Member since:2005-07-20
What makes Perl better for me is that I know it really well. I know the keywords, the functions, lots of libraries and CPAN.
I don't know Python or Ruby nearly that well.
That means I can sit down and write 200 lines of Perl that work the very first time.
Admittedly I only did that once and yes it surprised me too. 
RE[3]: don't really agree
by antwarrior on Thu 13th May 2010 14:30
in reply to "RE[2]: don't really agree"
Member since:2006-02-11
Perl offers some of the most obscure,obfuscated, beautiful and baffling ways to to write a quick script but I'll be darned if if I knew what I wrote a week from now.
I remember( a long time ago) with four lines of code and between 12 and 20 characters I could change to a high resolution setting for my monitor but it was in assembly. You don't see me advocating it because it's brevity.
Python and Ruby are fair comparisons because a skilled programmer in these languages can produce code just as quickly as a skilled Perl programmer but guess whose program you'll be most likely to understand first time.
Perl just doesn't lend itself to clarity for the short quick script.
RE[4]: don't really agree
by Pr3st00 on Fri 14th May 2010 16:43
in reply to "RE[3]: don't really agree"
Member since:2005-12-02
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.More Features »
Sponsored Links
Member since:
2008-12-26
Personally I can do more of what I want with a few lines of Perl than the same lines of Python or Ruby.
The amount of characters is not what counts - rather, the amount of time it takes to write/debug the script, and the amount it will take to modify it later.
Out of curiosity, what aspect of perl makes it preferable to python in this area? Regex support is pretty much the same, so it must be the built in reporting features?
One thing I think makes python preferable to perl even for the "dirty work" is the exception handling. In perl you'll either implement error handling yourself ("or die") or fail without explanation.