Re: Perl Needs Better Tools

I have discussed the future of Perl with managers from companies that currently use it and find that they worry about the future of Perl. One company I spoke with here in San Francisco is rewriting their core application in Java.

Two caveats immediately came to mind reading this. First, "One company" -- out of how many (i.e. sample set)? Does one manager trying to be trendy and buzzword happy for his boss constitute a trend?
Second, I wonder how the topic was discussed.. if it was (and i have no idea how it was actually phrased) something like "So, it seems like all the other managers see perl going extinct, what do you think?", that's a lot different than something like "What do you think of the technologies you currently employ?".

I just all read things like this (or pretty much anything that provides "stats") with initial skepticism..

but that aside, although my preferred IDE is vi, more tools can't be a bad thing..

Comment on Re: Perl Needs Better Tools

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: Perl Needs Better Tools by pg (Canon) on Aug 26, 2005 at 04:05 UTC
It might be the right decision for people to convert their Perl application to other languages. For example, It was the wrong decision in the first place, they picked Perl to develop things that Perl cannot do very well. It was the right decision, but no longer is. Some of the features that were once unique in Perl and defined Perl is no longer unique today. For example, Java picked up regexp support. Java's regexp might not be as good as perl's, but one probably still picks Java's regexp, if most of the other parts of the application are in Java, and Java's regexp is more than enough for them. Will I continue to do things in Perl? I will if it fits. Well I do things in other languages? I will if they fit. The bottom line is to do the right thing with the right tool.	[reply]

Replies are listed 'Best First'.

Re^2: Perl Needs Better Tools
by pg (Canon) on Aug 26, 2005 at 04:05 UTC

It might be the right decision for people to convert their Perl application to other languages. For example,

It was the wrong decision in the first place, they picked Perl to develop things that Perl cannot do very well.
It was the right decision, but no longer is. Some of the features that were once unique in Perl and defined Perl is no longer unique today. For example, Java picked up regexp support. Java's regexp might not be as good as perl's, but one probably still picks Java's regexp, if most of the other parts of the application are in Java, and Java's regexp is more than enough for them.

Will I continue to do things in Perl? I will if it fits. Well I do things in other languages? I will if they fit. The bottom line is to do the right thing with the right tool.

[reply]