I would like to extend a little bit on CGI.

For a programming language to gain user bases, application areas are very important. If there are several areas, or even one, in which Perl is the first choice, or one of the first choices, Perl will gain its user bases much faster. Two examples: 1) Perl was once the most preferred, if not the only one, language for CGI. If you want a CGI application, go Perl, and Perl did grew at its fastest pace back then. 2) Today, when people talk about web application, they face two choices, Java or C#. With C# picking up its pace, more and more web applications will be a mixture of C# (front end) and Java (web services).

Perception is important here. When you choose language for an application, will you survey all the languages out there, no, you don't. You read couple of magazines, attend several seminars (doesn't matter whether you think this is wise, that's the life). What in front of you is a set of limited choices that other people have presented to you. Not to say that, language is just one of those decisions you need to make, how much time are you willing to spend on it?

It is great that people thought/think Perl was/is the de facto language for CGI. However, if this is still the impression today, it becomes a minus, not a plus any more, as CGI is gone.

Perl's future relies on whether it can once again find one or two areas that Perl is the de facto language.

In reply to Re^2: Script kiddies and the like: beneficial or disadvantageous? by pg
in thread Script kiddies and the like: beneficial or disadvantageous? by blazar

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