Should I learn Perl? All the flavour of the month frameworks

>>61535455
For text processing it's unbeatable. I don't use it for very much other than that anymore, though.

well perl is not a flavor of the month framework but it's an old language that was beaten by python because perl code is understandable

No, it's an unmaintainable mess.
I mean, it's so bad and outdated its author started a complete rewrite 17 years ago.

>>61535664
*Unintelligible

>>61535455
I also wanted to do this but I always give up and go back to python instead

>>61535455

It depends on what you want to work with.

For SysAdmins Perl is a thing.
For WebDevelopment you'll be better off with Ruby.
For DataScience Python is the best choice.


For a langauge point of view:
Perl is a lot of fun and a very well designed language. Perl is also very similar to Ruby (read: Ruby basically stole all cool features from Perl, Python, LISP and Smalltalk and created a new language).

I learned Ruby as first language (and it's still my favorite language). Then I learned Perl and was like "wtf?!?" at every functionality, because Ruby just stole them all.

Python is not my cup of tea, but it has arguably the most jobs, so if that's your main criteria, learn Python instead.

>>61535758
>For WebDevelopment you'll be better off with Ruby.
I thought Ruby was on its way out.

>>61535758
> Perl is a lot of fun
Not so fun once you have to maintain it, trust me.
> a very well designed language
No, it's not, it's not even "designed", it's a collection of ad-hoc hacks. Perl6 is an attempt to actually "design" Perl, too bad it's stillborn.

>>61535455
Nah, just learn python.

>>61535865

That's only a /g/ meme.
Check your local jobs. Plenty of Rails stuff.


>>61535903

Well, I have to admit I never did any large scale Perl project. But it seemed a lot of fun to me to work with.

Also note that I rwote in my previous answer that I would consider Perl mostly for SysAdmin tasks where you usually have smaller scripts.

And to me Perl5 makes more sense than Perl6.
Is it only me..?

What does Perl have over Python, really?
Is there any case where using Perl would be truly better?

>>61536243
Write-and-forget one-liners, I guess. For everything longer, Python is better.

>>61535455
No.

>>61536243
Perl is shipped with most GNU/Linux distros and with most *BSDs while Python often needs to be installed. While this is no big deal most of the times, Perl will often be available on embedded systems without Internet connection while Python might not.

node is the future
>>61536589
also its shipped with most non-gnu linux distros

>>61536589
>Perl will often be available on embedded systems without Internet connection while Python might not
Python's 30M runtime overhead is a bigger deal in that situation.

Mostly Perl is mostly a better replacement for *sh/sed/awk though. Once you pass typical init script code size, you don't want to be dealing with Perl.

>>61535758
Perl is great for data and science in general, try PDL (Perl Data Language) http://pdl.perl.org/

Also Perl is unbeatable for code obfuscation on the web right until Perl 6. And even then is not "unmaintainable", is just take time to get custom.

>>61538556

Interesting, I didn't know about PDL.

learn lua it has some differences between the scripting languages that could make it worth it.

File: lua.jpg (73KB, 680x643px) Image search: [Google]

73KB, 680x643px

>>61539628

>>61538556
Python is still the reference for anything related to data (alongside R), finance and research.

>>61540393
It's the reference for being slow too.

>>61540456
>a high level scripting language is slow
No shit.
If anyone gave a fuck about the edge in speed Perl or Ruby might have over Python, then they'd be more popular.
All programs that require performance in the aforementioned fields (data, finance, research) are written in C++ anyway.

>>61535455
Learn C and then Perl

>>61536137
>Check your local jobs. Plenty of Rails stuff.
1 posting.

>>61540393
>Python
>alongside R

>>61542879
Yes, that's what I said.

>>61535664
>well perl is not a flavor of the month
it is on /g/ question is why there are daily perl shill threads all of the sudden