in reply to Standard Perl Modules ~ Overkill

From the title I thought I was going to read a node about the absurd growth of the Perl Standard Library. The smile slid from my face when I realized this is actually a node about not preaching the power of CPAN every day.

CPAN is what makes Perl worth using, plain and simple. If it weren't for CPAN, why not use Ruby or Python? Why not Guile or TCL? Sure, Perl is a nice language but there are lots of nice languages. But just try programming in one of them someday and the thing you'll miss first and last is the power and depth of CPAN.

Beginners should be taught to look for solutions on CPAN as soon as they learn to use modules. In my opinion Perl should come with just a handful of modules and CPAN.pm.

-sam

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Re: Re: Standard Perl Modules ~ Overkill
by apj (Initiate) on Apr 21, 2004 at 13:51 UTC
    From the title I thought I was going to read a node about the absurd growth of the Perl Standard Library. The smile slid from my face when I realized this is actually a node about not preaching the power of CPAN every day.

    Actually, maybe it's just me but I don't think the perl standard library is a) very standard, or b) very comprehensive.

    Re: a) - please link me to the description of the Perl Standard Library. I'm not being flippant - it definitely seems like a good thing, I just don't know where it is. ActiveState for Windows is different from ActiveState for Solaris is different (obviously) from the Sun distribution which is different from the distribution you build yourself from source which, of course, is different from the Windows distribution that you could build yourself.

    Re: b) - The Standard Library (which I concede must be out there somewhere) seems to be missing some basic internet functionality. I'm not talking about the ActiveState distribution. Seems like LWP::Simple ought to be standard but is not (from my solaris builds, anyhow). XMLRPC or SOAP ought to be. For crying out loud, even just XML::Simple or XML::Parser (which, again, in my experience has not been part of the "standard" distribution).

    Finally, in general, a lot of the responses in this thread seem to apply to a local/single distribution. In a corporate environment, adding modules (even if the basic process of building the module is no problem) can be a challenge administratively, logistically, and networkily.

    My mileage may vary, but that's what I've been getting recently!

    -- Andy

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      The only real standard Perl library is what you get from the perl source releases.
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