so... whatchyallthink?

i notice that this forum gets a tiny burst of activity about once a week. before posting this thread, the last couple posts here were made 9 days ago. then the next few were 17 days ago. and this pattern seems to be the same with other multi-language programming forums, that i've seen.

besides this anecdotal observation ... 5.8 has been around now for how long? 8 years? after the last announcement (that i recall) in 2005, that 6.0 was "about to be released"... it's hard to believe anything that anyone involved in this project says anymore. nobody seems to know what they're even doing.

I think it's safe to say that Python has for some time now been a complete system to replace Perl ... and probably better.

the only point in using Perl anymore seems to be that of personal preference or, more accurately, "emotional attachment"

What's it going to take for the tech community to finally let Perl go?



.

CORRECTION:

perl 5.10 has been out for a while.

but still. version 5 was released in 1994.

theyve been talkign about releasing version 6 "any day now" for the past 8 years.

Emotional attachment? Perl is a good language, that is why people continue to use it.

People will stop using it when it no longer serves a purpose. That will not be for a long time I suspect.

well, yeah, i get your point, but ...

Fortran programs are still out there chugging away, but that doesn't mean Fortran isn't dead, or that it would be worthwhile for the average person to bother learning it.

i'm just saying Perl appears to be heading to the graveyard.

what does Perl do that Python doesn't do at least as well or better?

I have no idea why you say perl is headed to the graveyard. Your premise is wrong so there is no use in discussing it. Perl may not be as popular as it was at one time but it is far fom a dead language.

I don't know what perl does better than python or vice-versa.

Religous discussions are always such fun, (or a pain)...

My xxx is bigger than yours'.... blaa blaa blaa...

Perl has a long history, because it works.

PHP/python are popular because they are easier for beginners to get started doing what they want to do.

Pretty much the story of every new language that hits the streets.

On a personal note: BECAUSE PHP is so easy, there have been a lot of sloppy code put out on web sites, which do not take into account security (server side), or protection (client side). Therefore, unless and until PHP becomes as robust as perl, it will never exist on a server I have any control over...

Python, although not as bad as PHP, has few real advantages over perl in the real world, where money is not just thrown at problems, and support cycles are measured in years, instead of months or weeks...

aha

you just signed up to this site in order to post that

religious discussions, indeed

I've just started learning/using Perl. My understanding is that it is very helpful for text mining. The books I have used in text mining class refer to Perl but not sure if that's the author's preference or it's the overall preferred tool???

well, it is good for that sort of work.

it's also my preferred tool, if only because (1) i already know the language and am familiar with it (2) it's just so easy to get something slapped together and actually working...

if i were just starting out, i might look into Python as an alternative, but I can't deny that Perl is a really powerful and easy-to-learn tool for exactly that kind of work.

Actually, I signed up to look over what might be useful in perl craft...

Found cruft instead...