Member Avatar for jephthah

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?

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Member Avatar for jephthah

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.

Member Avatar for KevinADC

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.

Member Avatar for jephthah

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?

Member Avatar for KevinADC

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.

Member Avatar for hackware

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...

commented: awesome first post. +1
Member Avatar for jephthah

aha

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

religious discussions, indeed :P

Member Avatar for godevars

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???

Member Avatar for jephthah

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.

Member Avatar for hackware

aha

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

religious discussions, indeed :P

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

Found cruft instead...

commented: lol, indeed. you win this thread, sir :) +2
Member Avatar for KevinADC

You declared perl is headed to the graveyard, if you ask me, python will probably get there sooner judging by it lower usage and it's been around as long as perl if not longer in one form or version or another.

But anyways, thats my last post in this thead. These discussions might be of some small personal interest but never change anyones mind about anything.

Parting shot:

Python 3000

There are plans for a future version, to be called Python 3.0 (the project is called "Python 3000" or "Py3K") that will break backwards compatibility with the 2.x series in order to repair perceived flaws in the language.

commented: interesting. i did not know that. +2
Member Avatar for Major Major

mmm Perl.

Perl is not dead, it's just not a fashionable language and it's intimidating as hell for novices. ( I know avoided it like the plague for years :) )

FORTRAN likewise is not dead, in certain scientific circles at least. As a general programming language it's deader than a doornail but in the science community it's still got a good deal of steam. I was helping some scientists with FORTRAN a couple of months ago and made a disparaging remark about certain aged programming languages, I might have mentioned COBOL as well. I got an earful in response.

Bacl to Perl, it is primarily a sys admin's tool. it's great for chugging through log files and extracting data.

I now use Perl whenever I think, "I could do that in C but...".

commented: good comments. +2
Member Avatar for jephthah

^ yeap... i agree pretty much with everything you said there. (except i think perl is pretty easy for beginners to get started, at least for the basics...)

and FORTRAN is dead. but it also still runs the majority of our nation's nuclear power plants. not bad for a dead language.

i still love Perl, it's amazingly powerful and adaptable.

i think im just annoyed that 5.x has been around for 14 years, and they've been promising 6.0 "any day now" for the past 7 or 8.

Member Avatar for Major Major

^ yeap... i agree pretty much with everything you said there. (except i think perl is pretty easy for beginners to get started, at least for the basics...)

and FORTRAN is dead. but it also still runs the majority of our nation's nuclear power plants. not bad for a dead language.

i still love Perl, it's amazingly powerful and adaptable.

i think im just annoyed that 5.x has been around for 14 years, and they've been promising 6.0 "any day now" for the past 7 or 8.

Perl 6 will come out with Duke Nukem Forever and Spore...

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