in reply to ETL in Perl

I disagree with the contention that ETL is the same as

the input, transformation and output of data
That just describes the T part of ETL.

In fact, what I often see is people using "ETL" to refer only to the T part, or to the ET parts, or the TL parts.

Extraction is, by definition, the extraction of data from a database (or other data storage) in its "native" model (schema). Load is, by definition, the insertion of data into database (or other storage) in the model defined there. Transformation is, of course, the transformation of the data from the one model to the other.

Using Perl for the Extraction and Load parts can make a lot of sense. Perl can write, and run, the necessary SQL scripts, for example.

Doing the Transformation in Perl might be easy to write, but I'd agree that it isn't the best tool in a lot of situations, for various reasons, not least of which is the fact that it's slow, relative to some other tools.

What is the sound of Windows? Is it not the sound of a wall upon which people have smashed their heads... all the way through?

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