Not really. First, it does distributions, not modules and second, it doesn't do core. You can't get a used-by list for 'CGI' or 'Carp', for instance. Also, it's ungainly for my purposes. You'd have to enter each distribution you're considering individually, then count the number of used-by distributions to get a score. Lastly, it doesn't provide a 'top 10'.
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Doing distributions instead of module, I'd consider it a feature. Or should a module that's used in a single distribution in 100 different modules count 4 times as heavily as a module that's used once in 25 different distributions?
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Good question!
I think it would be possible to do both. You could also
group by author and not count references when you include your own module/distribution in your own code.
The problems with the using CPANTS use-by for my purpose is 1) you need to know what distribution a module you're interested in lives in and 2) you need to know which of the used-by results actually use the module you're interested in.
Remember, I'm not looking for a way to rank authors or the value of a module. I want to help folks deciding what module to use from among a list.
For instance, if you've never written a script that interacts with an IMAP server before and you need to do so now, do you use Net::IMAP or Net::IMAP::Simple? I want to make that decision easier.
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