in reply to Should I learn perl 5 in 2015

I think it depends on what your goals are. There aren't as many applications being developed in Perl as there are in Java, for example. But developers are not the only kind of software engineers. I have been using it for many years to analyze the code the developers create. Perl is absolutely the best tool for analyzing text files like the developers make.

It's been a long time since I wrote any "code." I will probably never write any more "code." But in the mean time, I have written tens of thousands of lines of Perl to analyze the millions of lines of "code" I look at that the developers wrote. And I probably get paid more than most of them.

I am partial to Perl 5, but that is just because it is what I am used to and comfortable with.

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Re^2: Should I learn perl 5 in 2015
by RonW (Parson) on Jun 10, 2015 at 19:34 UTC
    I will probably never write any more "code." But in the mean time, I have written tens of thousands of lines of Perl to analyze the millions of lines of "code" I look at that the developers wrote.

    Your job title maybe something like "Quality Analysis", but you are still "coding". Whether your code is an application, analyzes other code or performs testing, it's still code.

    Professionally, I write production software in C/C++. I use Perl as my "Swiss Army Knife" to help me get my main work done. I use it for many thing, including analyzing data for debugging problems - or to understand a real world system so my software can control it. Also for generating code from various tables, generating documentation and other tasks that come with my job. It's all still coding and, because it help me be more productive, I do get paid for it (indirectly, but management knows we use Perl and is fine with it).

      Agreed, I am still "coding." My code will never be in the source repository; it will be in the tools repository. I am not looked on as a developer. The point I was trying to make was that there are many things you can be doing in the software arena besides being a developer. I have done development, QA, CM, IV&V, and have found Perl an invaluable tool in each.