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But the small perl codebases I have are great. I have a crontab that runs every five minutes: 30 lines that use one CPAN module, no bugs in years. The code has the kind of hackiness that's okay when it fits on one screen, and it fits on one screen precisely because of that hackiness.
It'd be better if it were in Python.
I used Perl for a bit but switched to Python because I was finding it harder to work out what some code I'd written a year or so ago did than to write it again, a problem I don't have with Python.
I used python for a bit but switched to Perl because it 1) Works 2) Is ubiquitous 3) Is stable 4) Is normal (semicolons, braces etc)
What was your first programming language? Because what seems like normal to you mostly depends on you.
I used Perl for a bit but switched to Python because I was finding it harder to work out what some code I'd written a year or so ago did than to write it again, a problem I don't have with Python.
I used python for a bit but switched to Perl because it 1) Works 2) Is ubiquitous 3) Is stable 4) Is normal (semicolons, braces etc)
Almost anything can "work"
> 2) Is ubiquitous
So is awk, don't write software in it.
> 3) Is stable
This will become questionable as Perl slips into non-maintained mode.
> 4) Is normal (semicolons, braces etc)
Perl syntax is very far from "normal"
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Which is ironic, because even the most ardent Perlies among us were wringing our hands about its inevitable decline well before then.
The rate of increase must have been declining (i.e. rate of rate of increase negative) in order for it to have peaked. This was probably detectable.
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I used python for a bit but switched to Perl because it 1) Works 2) Is ubiquitous 3) Is stable 4) Is normal (semicolons, braces etc)
> 2) Is ubiquitous On which systems do you have Perl readily available but not Python?
Perl documentation online applys to versions of perl that are installed. Python stuff is all bleeding edge - you'll research why something isn't working and after 30 minutes find it's expecting python 3.7.
The whole concept of "virtualenv" gives me an impression of fragility I don't get with perl.
Long ago I used to joke that perl is write-only... was that harsh or realistic? (I still believe it - too clever constructions which feel smart at the time you come up with them :)
"too clever constructions which feel smart at the time you come up with them" That's the coder, not the language. Which is more obvious what's happening. print ''.join('%(pre)s%(num)s %(bot)s on the wall, %(nul)s %(bot)s,\n%(tak)s\n' % (lambda c,b: {'pre':['','%s %s on the wall.\n\n' % (c,b)][abs(cmp(c,'Ninety-nine'))], 'num':c, 'nul':c.lower(), 'bot':b, 'tak':['Go to the store and buy some more... Ninety-nine %s.' %…
The Perl culture is overall about being practical but also being clever and leaning towards code golf.
The Python culture is overall about being explicit and readable.
As usual, YMMV, but that's the impression an awfully lot of people get, so there must be some truth to that.
It's interesting. I started Perl in around 2005, and moved entirely to Python in 2014, exactly when it reached it's peak and started to decline. Seems I wasn't the only one.
Consider this: Perl codebase is reaching perfection and no longer needs releases. After this, we get eternal Perl ;)
I've been searching for alternatives for about 10 years now, at first because my novice self was heaving headaches reading other people code and even my own. I hated perl but I hated everything else even more as I came to know them. No autovivification? Some assignments copy the data and some create references and you need to memorize the conventions of which does what? 3x to 10x lower performance? My program crashes because of white space? Fuck that! Back to perl5.
I'm sorry to say nothing can replace perl5 for me even now in 2019. I wish something would come along even if it takes years. We need alternatives and competition, perl5 will get too old at some point and 6 is... I don't even want to go there.
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I used python for a bit but switched to Perl because it 1) Works 2) Is ubiquitous 3) Is stable 4) Is normal (semicolons, braces etc)
> 2) Is ubiquitous On which systems do you have Perl readily available but not Python?