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"There's more than one way to do it" (TMTOWTDI or TIMTOWTDI) is a Perl motto. Perl was written with that idea in mind. This can allow developers to write "ugly"
by mmccaff 15y ago
"There's more than one way to do it" (TMTOWTDI or TIMTOWTDI) is a Perl motto. Perl was written with that idea
in mind. This can allow developers to write "ugly" Perl -- or quite the opposite, as @peteretep said.
- danssig 15y agoShow me a modern, general purpose language for which there isn't more than one way to do most things and I'll show you a language you don't know very well. Even Python, who's motto would be closer to "one right way to do it" always has more than one way. So you're statement doesn't explain anything I'm afraid.
- gatlin 15y agoI don't think the things you two are saying are mutually exclusive. Perl is ugly in inexperienced or rushed hands, and other languages do have flexibility and general purpose. I will say that I have found my muse in Perl, and that it allows me to express ideas succinctly and beautifully but that's not to the detriment of Python (with which I made a livelihood for a few years). If you want beautiful Perl, pick up Kaufmann's "Higher-Order Perl." It has a number of functional design patterns and ideas which are useful and elegant. The author claims that where most people write C in Perl, his book is an attempt to convince you to write Lisp in Perl.
- danssig 15y agoI understand you're not bashing other languages, I just get tired of these tautologies getting trotted out anytime someone complains about perl so I decided to challenge them. >The author claims that where most people write C in Perl, his book is an attempt to convince you to write Lisp in Perl. Wouldn't it be less work to just write Lisp in Lisp?
- berntb 15y agoLots of people would be happy to use lisp instead of Perl or other scripting languages. For instance, the CPAN module Devel::Declare is a sad excuse for real lisp macros but, afaik, it is still better than most anything else. (Lisp dialects are sadly seldom possible to use for lack needed libraries like good Unicode support, etc.) (Btw, Mark Jason Dominus wrote "Higher-Order Perl" http://hop.perl.plover.com/ http://hop.perl.plover.com/)
- gatlin 15y agoI had one of those days where I read the publisher's name, not the author's. Sorry, Mr Dominus!