in reply to Perl losing momentum ?

I believe it all depends on where you use Perl.

I tend to use it as a powerful, glue language on the back end, where I pour over 35 million lines of data through the regex engine. In that particular area, it is not losing momentum by any means. If I need a front end beyond a basic CLI, I might look into perltk for it, but for the most part my jobs run in batch.

Now, why Perl? The system was organically grown, and using a simple-to-implement, ubinquitously available language like Perl was the best choice. But what about languages like Ruby and Python? Ruby is excellent for the OO-esque paradigm, but is not the best for firefighting. Similar arguments can be made for Python, although I'm seeing a resurgence of Jython on GUI side of things.

In the end it all comes down to your specific problem domain, time constraints, business objectives, and deliverable schedule.

Hope this helped,
-v.
"Perl. There is no substitute."

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Re^2: Perl losing momentum ?
by spurperl (Priest) on Jan 30, 2008 at 16:22 UTC
    But I want to use Perl for everything !!

    I use it for almost everything now, so it's sad to realize that for some things it's just worse than the other options out there. Writing a GUI with wxRuby and tying it to a Perl backend is cumbersome, so I'll pick Ruby for the whole project - because I can write a backend in Ruby too, but I can't write a pretty GUI in Perl.

[reply]
      But I want to use Perl for everything !!

      Aaah, therein lies your problem. "When all you have is a hammer . . . " etc. Diversify; you'll find where the other tools work better (and there will be places they will), and you'll gain valuable perspective on different ways to use the swiss army chainsaw you love when it's appropriate.

      The cake is a lie.
      The cake is a lie.
      The cake is a lie.

[reply]

        Additionally, by learning to use other languages, and especially other types of languages (Lisp/Scheme, for example), you will also gain experience that can help you use areas of Perl that you may be unfamiliar with, and be able to utilize the chainsaw even more effectively.

        But, in general, don't be afraid to diversify. By being able to identify the strengths and shortcomings of your favorite tool, you can utilize it in such a way as to minimize "injury".

        --MidLifeXis

[reply]
        Caveat: I don't currently do Web programming (but would like to).

        What language would you recommend for developing a front-end, and what mechanism (flat-file, TCP/IP, Sybase table, sockets) would you use for relaying its input to a Perl app?

[reply]

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