in reply to "Why Perl is better than Java & .NET" article.

I don't know, will it be a good article? Do you actually know Java and .NET? Have you used them enough to form a responsible opinion? Are you ready to point out areas in which Java and .NET are clearly superior to Perl (GUI development, for example)?

I'd rather not have an article like this than have one that's just going to make us look bad. On the other hand, a carefully written, well-researched critique of the prevailing opinion in the business world (that Java and .NET are clearly superior to Perl) could be very useful.

-sam

  • Comment on Re: "Why Perl is better than Java & .NET" article.

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Re^2: "Why Perl is better than Java & .NET" article.
by tomazos (Deacon) on Jul 21, 2005 at 20:55 UTC
    So in GUI development Java and .NET are clearly superior to Perl?

    So Perl/Tk hasn't got a scratch on AWT/Swing or what is the GUI part of .NET?

    How did you determine this?

    I know J2SE and J2EE pretty well but most of my experience has admittedly been in Perl. To a certain extent comparing Java to Perl to .NET is comparing apples, oranges and bananas. Which is always the argument fallen back to by the loser in any technology comparison.

    Fact is they are competing development targets, and Perl has little mindshare even though it seems to be more popular on some levels.

    -Andrew.


    Andrew Tomazos  |  andrew@tomazos.com  |  www.tomazos.com

      Both Java and .Net have large core libraries for GUI programming. Perl Tk, on the other hand, is a fragile, optional installation. Both Java and .Net have a stable (though arguably worse-is-better) threading system, where ithreads still have implementation issues and rough edges.

      I've written GUI applications in Java and I've written GUI applications in Perl Tk. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, completely unrelated to the syntax and semantics of the language. Certainly it's possible to write similar applications in both languages, or with a different toolkit such as SWT or wxWidgets.

      Still, you're guilty of bad advocacy at the least if you ignore that practical GUI programming in Perl is harder than it ought to be.

        I'm asking for information, and offering a theory up. Not advocating anything yet.

        The GUI programming I've personally done has been in platform specific libraries to Mac OS, Mac OS X and Windows XP. I don't know much about cross-platform GUI development. It is my impression it isn't really there yet. Having said that I have tinkered with Perl/Tk and AWT/Swing.

        So is that a consensus among the Perl community? That Perl/Tk as a GUI programming language and is fragile? I thought Tcl/Tk has been around and under constant development for many years. I didn't know we lost that much by swapping out Tcl for Perl?

        -Andrew.


        Andrew Tomazos  |  andrew@tomazos.com  |  www.tomazos.com
      So Perl/Tk hasn't got a scratch on AWT/Swing or what is the GUI part of .NET?

      No, it doesn't. The fact that you even have to ask is proof that you shouldn't write this article. Do the Perl community a favor and spare us the (justifiable) ill will your article would generate.

      -sam