Perl or Python?

[Rajinder Yadav]

Marc thanks for your input,

since both perl and python are consider high level languages and I am already coding in C++, I guess I could say they are both easy to learn.

So by "simple" I guess what I should have said is, which language is clean and easier to maintain. Since I already understand OO concepts, I guess it would make sense to leverage those skills, which would imply Python is the way to go.

Also it seems you can do more with Python in terms of building real-world applications around it, if I am to believe the Python tutorial. I like the idea of not having to compile and link, so for very simple things I would most likely leverage using Python or Perl.

I really like the idea of having an extensive library to work with, good to know Python has this covered.

The only reason I would want to write a package manager is for learning, better understanding. I have not yet started to look into existing package managers.

I feel if I am going to build my Linux skills I should learn at least a script language that I am proficient with =)

Kind Regards,
Rajinder Yadav


--- On Wed, 7/1/09, Marc Lanctot <lanctot-yfeSBMgouQgsA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org> wrote:

> From: Marc Lanctot <lanctot-yfeSBMgouQgsA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org>
> Subject: Re: [TLUG]: Perl or Python?
> To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
> Received: Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 4:57 PM
> On Wed, 1 Jul 2009 12:41:12 -0700
> (PDT)
> Rajinder Yadav <devguy at ymail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> > 
> > I am considering investing some time learning a script
> language to
> > automate stuff etc.
> > 
> > Has anyone here used both/either perl and python? I
> would like to get
> > their feel on which is better for writing powerful yet
> simple
> > scripts? I am a C++ developer so I don't need to learn
> about
> > programming, just want to know which of the two script
> is really easy
> > to pick up and has all the module support I could ever
> need?
> > 
> > I assume python was designed to be object-oriented
> from the start and
> > thus would lend to clean OO coding. Can python do
> everything perl can
> > in terms of text manipulation and extraction?
> > 
> > comments, feedback welcome.
> > 
> 
> I've coded in both, but have much more experience with
> Perl. 
> 
> It's basically a "use the right tool for the right job"
> argument.
> 
> "Powerful yet simple scripts" is too vague. What is
> powerful? What is
> simple? Does simple mean least number of lines? Then perl
> is probably
> your beast. If it means programs that are easy to read and
> follow? Then
> it's python. If by powerful you mean has a large standard
> library,
> implements OO "properly", I'd recommend python. If by
> powerful you mean
> can handle regular expressions in string matching
> implicitly, then use
> perl. 
> 
> Perl was made for parsing documents. Think of it as a step
> up from
> bash scripting. With CPAN, you can find Perl modules that
> do pretty
> much anything. It is extremely flexible, but it's not
> uncommon to find
> Perl scripts that look like a dump from /dev/urandom.
> 
> Python is still a high-level scripting language, but higher
> than Perl
> is. Python is more like Java, really. It is a full-fledged
> language in
> the sense that it comes with a standard library, enforces
> stronger
> syntax requirements, etc. etc. 
> 
> Marc
> 
> -- 
> If you want to travel around the world and be invited to
> speak at a lot
> of different places, just write a Unix operating system.
>   -- Linus Torvalds
> --
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