Perl usage?

sowraaj has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear perl monks,

At present, i'm learning perl programming to parse log files into mysql

Simultaneously, my employer giving the training on .Net

I'm still confused to learn .NET instead of perl

Please clarify my doubt

Is this possible to design web pages by using perl?

and also give the benefits of using perl

Thanks & Regards

RAJ

Comment on Perl usage?

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Re: Perl usage? by GrandFather (Saint) on Aug 21, 2011 at 06:17 UTC
Originally the web was written in Perl. Then PHP was written in Perl and the web started being written in PHP. Since then Perl has acquired better web page writing tools (see CPAN) and PHP has gotten more and longer functions names. Yes, you can write server side code in Perl - assuming that is what you mean by "design web pages by using perl". BTW, PerlMonks is written in Perl - which currently may not be the best advertisement for Perl scripted sites :(. .NET is designed as a support tool (framework) for writing Windows applications. A Windows box can be used as a web server so .NET can be used for writing server side code. However most server side code only really does two things - it processes text and talks to databases. Perl is excellent for both those tasks. .NET, not so much. Note that .NET is not a language, it is a framework, so you need to learn the framework and at least one language to use it and the framework is likely to be the harder part! True laziness is hard work	[reply]
Re^2: Perl usage? by Anonymous Monk on Aug 21, 2011 at 10:14 UTC
"Originally the web was written in Perl." Got a source to back this up?	[reply]
Re^3: Perl usage? by zentara (Cardinal) on Aug 21, 2011 at 12:44 UTC
Yeah, it's all in the Al Gore internet archives. ;-) I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. Old Perl Programmer Haiku ................... flash japh	[reply]
Re^3: Perl usage? by Anonymous Monk on Aug 22, 2011 at 21:46 UTC
Precisely: Originally the web was duct taped together with Perl.	[reply]
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Re: Perl usage? by moritz (Cardinal) on Aug 21, 2011 at 06:08 UTC
Is this possible to design web pages by using perl? Web pages are HTML, styled with CSS and sometimes modified with Javascript. Web browsers don't understand Perl. However it is common to use Perl to generate the HTML of the web pages, and sometimes even the CSS and Javascript. Perl 6 - second systems done right	[reply]
Re: Perl usage? by locked_user sundialsvc4 (Abbot) on Aug 21, 2011 at 15:28 UTC
If your employer’s “shop,” or just the part of it which concerns you, is Microsoft-based, then it only makes sense that they would be using `.NET`, and it is a very nice benefit that they are offering you training on it. There is nothing like `.NET` to give you a fresh, new appreciation of Perl. `;-)` You have surely heard of `TMTOWTDI.` Yes, indeed: “there is more than one way to do it.” Specifically, there’s the right way (Perl...), and the wrong way (`.NET`). `;-)` In all seriousness ... learn about both of them. Computer programming systems are just tools, and the more tools you are more-than cursorily familiar with, the better off you’ll always be. Every “shop” is going to select its own personal modus operandi and they almost never change it; nor (usually...) should they. But you are always going to be bouncing from one company to the next ... Don’t invest your time trying to get them to “switch to Perl.” For them, it probably is not a defensible business decision, nor is it technically mandated.