Well you grab the modules from the PPM repository which is not CPAN. You also have a lot bigger selection of modules on the *nix side. The only reason I would ever use ActiveState perl is if I HAD to do something on a windows box. Otherwise I would use the version that came with Red Hat or download a fresh build. | [reply] |
Any CPAN module that doesn't rely on any platform-specific magic can and will work with ActivePerl. You needn't use PPM for everything.
That said, while you can pretty much guarantee that any module you'll need will be available for *NIX (except Win32:: things, obviously), no such guarantee can be had for Windows. Anything in Pure Perl will work with ActivePerl, so long as the module author uses platform-independent conventions. Most authors do.
Additionally, while Perl clearly has platform-independence in mind, it was (and is) targetting primarily at a *NIX audience. That means that *NIX users will have a newer, more stable verion of Perl-related things before Windows users. *NIX also allows you to "cheat" a lot using OS shortcuts that Windows lacks. You can accomplish the same things, but it often takes more code on Windows if there are low-level tasks.
So, I would agree that given a choice, using something in the *NIX family is the way to go for a Perl developer. However, it is rather rare to be unable to solve a problem in a Perlish way on Windows. But it is fairly common to have to work a bit harder for a Win solution.
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