Well, I was poking through the February 2001 issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal when I came across the following in Michael Swaine's Programming Paradigms article entitled "Alternatives to Java". After saying that a number of scripting languages (including Perl) can claim similar portability as Java, he writes:

What they can't claim, as Perl can't, are the benefits of a real, full programming language.

So my questions are:
Okay, a compiled binary is one benefit. But what other things is he talking about? This is the kind of thing that I expect from PHBs, but I have (quite a bit) more respect for Mr. Swaine and so now I'm wondering what I'm missing. I've always thought Perl was a real, full, albeit interpreted, programming language. Am I wrong? Is Mike mistaken? Are we both wrong?

thanks...

In reply to Real Languages vs. Perl by doran

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