3 ms·
20k lines of Perl is a different beast from 20k lines of Python, or 20k lines of verbose Java Very good point. We’re all familiar with the “I can do ${lambda}
by ryanmarsh 9y ago
20k lines of Perl is a different beast from 20k lines of Python, or 20k lines of verbose Java
Very good point. We’re all familiar with the “I can do ${lambda} in ${n} lines with ${lang} language”.
It seems to take me 10x more lines to do something in Java vs. Python, and 10x lines to do something in Python vs. Perl. Except that the Java is laborious to read, the Python is nicely readable, and the Perl will never be understood by a programmer.
I had great fun writing Perl many years ago but I used to joke that Perl was a “write only” language.
- dublin 9y agoI had lunch with Eric Raymond here in Austin a 15-20 years ago, and he was lamenting the fact that he couldn't read his own Perl programs less than a year after writing them, so he was rewriting them all in Python. I never get religious about languages or platforms, but Python, which has been described as "executable pseudocode" does a nice job of balancing power and readbility. Idiomatic Perl is powerful, but opaque enough to be effectively unmaintainable. Since errors are pretty much proportional to LOC, it is best to use languages that offer "high leverage": Python, Tcl, and Lua come to mind. Note that C is still almost the only choice for real embedded work - it's unsurpassed at register bit-banging. (Well, except for assembly, but that requires skills that are no longer taught - interestingly, the same ones that make good embedded C programmers...)
- ryanmarsh 9y agohe couldn't read his own Perl programs less than a year after writing them A year? I often lost a half day trying to understand Perl I’d written less than a week before. I’m not exaggerating. I’m not sure what that says about me as a programmer but I’m terrified to find out.