On Wed, 31 May 2000, Yatsen Ng wrote:
Hi there,
I need to learn a scripting language and I was just about to start with Perl. But then I read a very positive article about Python in the LinuxJournal (written by Eric Raymond). A lot of people recommend Perl, simply because the majority uses it. But is that a good enough reason?
And on June 03, 2000, Don Edwards wrote, To start with, I've never worked with either at all <snip>
If you already have dealt with several such languages, then it matters less - but it still matters, and the better object model will be easier to learn and to work with. <snip>
I am not a Perl expert. I do work at JPL, where Larry Wall creator of Perl used to work and get the opportunity to see lots and lots of Perl. It is interesting to note that Perl courses taught here teach object model and data scoping only in the most advanced course. A disturbing choice since management will often only have funding for fundamental courses. Object model and data scoping were not designed into early versions of Perl but added on later. Perl has many nice capabilities though the features that provide them occasionally feel as though they were "inherited" from very different sources. An expert Perl programmer can accomplish lots of work in very few lines but the causual observer may wonder if those lines aren't in a Perly varient of APL. Python seems to offer many of Perl's capabilities and to be applicable to similar projects while having a feel of greater consistency throughout the language. Perl has been around longer so has more books, courses and users, but Python seems to be reaching a threshold where that won't matter as much and it can grow quickly in popularity. In some cases, like working with Java and WxWindows for example, Python already seems to have an edge over Perl. Unless you already have lots of code in Perl to support, I would pick Python. Ed Opinions stated here are entirely my own and not those of my employer or any associated organization. -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/