In the arena of CGI, it seems PHP has now become more popular than perl for newbies and even veteran coders.

If only that would be true! Then Perl can shake off the idea that it's a web programming language.

If people are looking for speed, they tend to use C or Java for their applications.

While people might use Java if they are looking for speed, Java isn't their best choice.

Does perl have a distinct advantage in any particular programming task?

Distinct advantage over what? Compared to any specific language, it won't be hard to find a distinct advantage. OTOH, it will be hard to find an advantage of Perl that it holds compared to all languages.

I program in Perl5 because it's fun. It's like exploring a partially enchanted, partially cursed mediaeval castle, filled with treasure, dragons, elves and cunning traps and surrounded by an enormous forest populated by a wide range of inhabitants. (Unlike perl6 which more looks like a 18th century French palace, with a well-kept, but boring park surrounding it. Java is an apartment building with no greens surrounding it.)

Abigail

---

---

• Are you posting in the right place? Check out Where do I post X? to know for sure.
• Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags. Currently these include the following:

  <code> <a> <b> <big> <blockquote> <br /> <dd> <dl> <dt> <em> <font> <h1> <h2> <h3> <h4> <h5> <h6> <hr /> <i> <li> <nbsp> <ol> <p> <small> <strike> <strong> <sub> <sup> <table> <td> <th> <tr> <tt> <u> <ul>

• Snippets of code should be wrapped in <code> tags not <pre> tags. In fact, <pre> tags should generally be avoided. If they must be used, extreme care should be taken to ensure that their contents do not have long lines (<70 chars), in order to prevent horizontal scrolling (and possible janitor intervention).
• Want more info? How to link or How to display code and escape characters are good places to start.