As a less clueless Perl programmer, I had the attitude that I should just use a bunch of CPAN modules to do basic tasks like file slurping. Why write five lines of code when you can write two? As I started contributing to CPAN, I learned that there can be unwanted overhead in relying upon CPAN modules.

My basic attitude now is if it's some code that only I will use, I'll take the kitchen sink approach and stuff in whatever CPAN modules I can to make jobs easier. But if it's a CPAN module I'm contributing, I'll try to be more circumspect and put in some extra effort and try to stick to core modules. For example, it seems like it's smarter to stick with File::Spec instead of Path::Tiny.

I'm wondering if other more seasoned Perl programmers take the same approach. If not, what criteria do you use to determine when to use/not use a CPAN module?

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In reply to Criteria for when to use a cpan module by nysus

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