Re: Section proposal: Best CPAN Modules

Please, don't hamstring CPAN competition. CPAN is so strong in part because it is so open to new solutions to old problems. Since there's no annointed solution, new modules quickly find users, regardless of the competition from the established players.

Sure, sometimes this is bad for the individual - inexperienced users sometimes make bad decisions and pick something unstable - but it's good for CPAN as a whole. And with time users of CPAN learn to find the right module for a given task, on a given day.

Ask yourself this, would DBI be where it is today if oraperl had been listed on the opening page as the "Best way to Program Oracle with Perl"? Would Text::CSV_XS be so bitchin' if every search for "csv" on search.cpan.org terminated in a recommendation for Text::CSV? Of course you're not suggesting either of these, but I think the motivation is similar, as is the likely result.

I've always thought the CPAN FAQ on a closely related topic had a great response - it simply points to this page:

http://xxx.lanl.gov/help/faq/statfaq

-sam

Comment on Re: Section proposal: Best CPAN Modules

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Re^2: Section proposal: Best CPAN Modules by GrandFather (Saint) on Jul 27, 2006 at 21:55 UTC
Actually CPAN modules are already ranked - by how often they are mentioned on PM for a start. Popular modules are simply, more popular. That doesn't mean that they are best, for some value of best, just that they are more popular. That is good news for someone looking to solve a problem. Popular choices are often easy to find out about and once found are easy to get information about. It's bad news for new modules that may do a better job than the current popular module for the job but haven't yet reached user critical mass - i.e., become popular. Having a cohesive section that lists the popular modules and a discussion of each module allows the best of both if the discussion can provide links to up and coming solutions to the same problem the module under discussion solves. You never know, with such a section Data::Dump::Streamer may even become more popular than Data::Dumper. DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel	[reply]
Re^2: Section proposal: Best CPAN Modules by ptum (Priest) on Jul 27, 2006 at 17:20 UTC
Wow, I had not really thought out the philosophical implications of a ranking system for modules -- thanks for your insight. While it is certainly true that PerlMonks is the center of the intellectual universe, I can't help but wonder if your concern might be overblown. Listing of a module in a PerlMonks 'Best Modules' list seems more likely to generate competition than to suppress it, if I am correct in my assessment of many of our local monks. I can imagine CPAN contributors flocking to PerlMonks and shamelessly promoting their modules through RFC posts in search of the fame and fortune that will naturally result from being included on our list. :) No good deed goes unpunished. -- (attributed to) Oscar Wilde	[reply]
Re^3: Section proposal: Best CPAN Modules by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Jul 27, 2006 at 23:01 UTC
Read The Zen of Comprehensive Archive Networks sometime. Makeshifts last the longest.	[reply]
Re^2: Section proposal: Best CPAN Modules by rodion (Chaplain) on Jul 28, 2006 at 05:00 UTC
Don't forget that 3 of the 4 nodes sited by the OP were talking about helping relative beginners. Yes PM is for helping eachother in general, but I think it has a special mission to help those who are beginning to find their way, whether in Perl generally, or in some area that's new for them. As grandfather points out in his node further down, most modules are best for something. I agree, it could hamstring innovation to pre-choose a list of "best" modules (going well beyond a set of reviews of module). Let's keep the variety for those who can best make use of it, but provide help to those who would be overwhelmed by it. Each area has one or two modules that go a little easy on beginners and occasional users, usually nat the expense of features, performance or flexibility. A Good Beginnings list would be very useful, and a name like "Good Beginnings", or some such, would tell people that this is just where to start, not where to stop. We can have our cake and still make sure that new users have a good supply of solid bread, not just some cake crumbs. (Err... maybe the French Revolution isn't the best metaphore here.) Anyway, it's good for the health and prosperity of Perl to make it easier for new and talented people to get things done using it.	[reply]