in reply to Disadvantages of Perl?

I learned perl before C, and now find learning C to be incredibly difficult. whereas in perl i can just say "shift" or "chomp" or something, and pass variables around like potatoes, in C, everythign must be accounted for and kept track of. perl is a good language. but, as a first language ive detrmined its a bad idea. it makes you lazy, and unpreparred for more advanced (and useful) langauges.
charlie schmidt
ishamael@themes.org
www.diablonet.net/~ishamael/

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(jcwren) RE: RE: Disadvantages of Perl?
by jcwren (Prior) on Jun 14, 2000 at 08:07 UTC
    When you learn a new language, the idea is not to try to write the new language like you did the old. The idea is to apply high level concepts about the type of data and control structures. The example you cite has nothing to do with Perl vs 'C'. People who learn C++ have similiar complaints about going to 'C'.

    Instead, think about how you would implement what you *don't* have, or how you would write code without that language feature. Trying to write Perl in 'C' is futile, just like trying to write BASIC in assembly, or Forth in Perl.

    It's your learning technique that needs to be revised, not the order in which you learn the languages.

    --Chris (who hates language and OS bigotry)
RE: RE: Disadvantages of Perl?
by Jonathan (Curate) on Jun 14, 2000 at 19:40 UTC
    My background is the complete opposite. I've spent years coding 'C' (never was it fun) before learning Perl. There's no comparison. Perl's a breath of fresh air, it fun powerful and very quick. What more could you want?