4 ms·
Because no one wants to write Perl ? Also because Python is readable by most software engineers and data scientists, unlike R.
by Fiahil 5y ago
Because no one wants to write Perl ?
Also because Python is readable by most software engineers and data scientists, unlike R.
- elzbardico 5y agoI don’t mind writing Perl, reading Perl is what actually scares me.
- adamc 5y agoYes, the problem was that to read Perl you had to know every way to express things, and Perl was much, much too flexible there. I wrote a bunch of Perl in the early 2000s and I hated it. Both Ruby and Python were far superior. Even Java was better (albeit with other caveats). I hated Perl. List vs. scalar context is one example of a "feature" in Perl that causes confusion in readers.
- pvaldes 5y agoIn science doing things in a different way is good, not bad. If everybody uses the same tool you kill the cross-pollination between people with different skills and innovation often comes from that. Exploring Bioperl for genetics leads to several big rewards, but you need to want to take the extra-mile and doing it. And is not easy. In the same way as exploring R in the past where none used it, was definitely benefical to me. R is awesome. All is readable if you find the correct people able to read it. People at the university just keep using the same as their boss so you really can't always choose. Maybe Perl wizards were highly sough and didn't remained in the university. Maybe is just a question of different generations of programmers and Perl is a little older. Dunno.