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Perl is no longer my first choice for scripting. Once upon a time perl was preinstalled on almost every Linux box and was a default package on most distribution
by MichaelMoser123 8y ago
Perl is no longer my first choice for scripting. Once upon a time perl was preinstalled on almost every Linux box and was a default package on most distributions, now you can't assume that. Also it is a bit difficult to use cpan - often the c code for a module does not compile for some reason during installation and you have to go and figure; on the other hand I never had any problems with pip. (Though I still don't quite like Python)
On the other hand bash has maps so it is possible to use that more for scripting.
- jimpudar 8y agoWhat Linux distros don't include Perl by default? I certainly haven't come across any...
- MichaelMoser123 8y agoWell I did not do a lot of research for this post, but many installations that I have to deal with come from some image where perl is not been installed.
- collyw 8y agoBash has a horrible syntax. Beyond a simple for loop I would reach for Perl.
- CydeWeys 8y agoShell scripts have so many footguns. Python is almost as terse, takes less time to write (for me anyway), and is way more maintainable.
- MichaelMoser123 8y agoBut it has set -x ; really helps to see what the script is doing step by step. I don't know how to do that easily with other languages.
- bmn__ 8y agoPut "how to trace a X script" (where X is a language name) into the search engine of your choice.