in reply to Can Perl be more than a hobby language?

DICE job search, by keyword, 10 days, no restrictions, all regions: Yes, that Java number is pretty big, but the intersection is pretty big too. So:
  1. learn both Java and Perl.
  2. get a Java job
  3. use Perl to get loads of stuff done in 1/5 the time as Java
  4. get big promotion, and convert organization to Perl
  5. Profit!
  • Comment on Re: Can Perl be more than a hobby language?

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Re^2: Can Perl be more than a hobby language?
by j3 (Friar) on Nov 15, 2006 at 17:27 UTC
    2. get a Java job
    3. use Perl to get loads of stuff done in 1/5 the time as Java

    My guess is that this happens a lot. I've seen it in action, actually. We had an old mailer app written in Java that was pretty large and undocumented. One day the server it was on had a drive go bad, and it turned out that this Java program was not backed up. My boss at the time asked for a replacement, so I whipped up a small Perl script that did basically the same job. When asked why I didn't use Java, I replied, "Well, I just wanted to quickly get something working." It's been in service ever since.

    Perl is so delightfully insidious this way. It's like a virus because it's so useful. :)

      Perl is so delightfully insidious this way. It's like a virus because it's so useful. :)

      I love perl, I really REALLY do, but once you know any language fairly well, you can develop in it very well. You're prolly been in service ever since since you are a good developer. :)

      I'd take statements like that as annecdotal. Ask steve gibson and he'd be quick to say ASM is the way to go. Lord help me if I ever write mail programs in ASM when I can do it so much faster in other languages.