5 ms·

I find perl substantially more approachable than Python, provided I don't have to read anyone else's code.

RyanMcGreal 15y ago
> provided I don't have to read anyone else's code. That's a hell of a caveat. :) As I get older, I find I spend more time reading code than writing it (even though most of it's my own), and I find Python's sheer readability indispensable.
- kamaal 15y ago
  Its not, basically because if you have bad programmers working for your then you have bigger problems than choosing a language. And if you have good programmers, then readability isn't a problem. Not even a thing to think about.
  - berntb 15y ago
    >>And if you have good programmers, then readability isn't a problem Hrm, I'd argue against that. I know better programmers than me, whose code I hate to work with. Also for Python. But you seem to define "good programmer" as someone who also comments and documents, so I guess you're by definition correct. :-) Edit: Yeah, "itsnotme". The fault is rather the idiot bosses that let the smart idiots get away with it... But with non-idiot bosses, you won't have readability problems in Perl either.
    - itsnotme 15y ago
      Having good programmers who can't agree on a consistent style is problematic, but good programmers can follow a reasonable style guide, even if they have quibbles about it.
    - einhverfr 15y ago
      Yeah, well bad commenters come in three kinds: Those who write too few comments. Those who write too many comments. Those who write the wrong comments. Of course, those are not mutually exclusive.......
    - kamaal 15y ago
      According to me good code is what makes the comment unnecessary. And writing such a thing requires understanding many things. And those things are language agnostic. Like some one mentioned in this thread, languages tend to be judged by the quality of code produced by their worst user. For once you can write unreadable code in any language. Even in C and Lisp. In fact there you can create bigger problems and more unreadable code.
      - berntb 15y ago
        You still needs comments that tell what the content of a code file is supposed to do, no matter how clear the code is. (And in scripting languages which doesn't declare parameters, like Python and old style Perl, you need to document what the parameters are.)
- kokey 15y ago
  As I get older and use perl for longer, I find that it gets easier to read other people's perl code. I find it still hard to read some of the php code out there. I think messy php code outdoes the messes I've seen in perl, and a big part of this is because there was no standard for php includes/modules for a while.
laaph 15y ago
Oh please can I quote you on that? What I used to say, which probably other people do too, is "Perl is a best language to write programs in so long as you can fit it in one line of code!"

> provided I don't have to read anyone else's code. That's a hell of a caveat. :) As I get older, I find I spend more time reading code than writing it (even though most of it's my own), and I find Python's sheer readability indispensable.

kamaal 15y ago
Its not, basically because if you have bad programmers working for your then you have bigger problems than choosing a language. And if you have good programmers, then readability isn't a problem. Not even a thing to think about.
- berntb 15y ago
  >>And if you have good programmers, then readability isn't a problem Hrm, I'd argue against that. I know better programmers than me, whose code I hate to work with. Also for Python. But you seem to define "good programmer" as someone who also comments and documents, so I guess you're by definition correct. :-) Edit: Yeah, "itsnotme". The fault is rather the idiot bosses that let the smart idiots get away with it... But with non-idiot bosses, you won't have readability problems in Perl either.
  - itsnotme 15y ago
    Having good programmers who can't agree on a consistent style is problematic, but good programmers can follow a reasonable style guide, even if they have quibbles about it.
  - einhverfr 15y ago
    Yeah, well bad commenters come in three kinds: Those who write too few comments. Those who write too many comments. Those who write the wrong comments. Of course, those are not mutually exclusive.......
  - kamaal 15y ago
    According to me good code is what makes the comment unnecessary. And writing such a thing requires understanding many things. And those things are language agnostic. Like some one mentioned in this thread, languages tend to be judged by the quality of code produced by their worst user. For once you can write unreadable code in any language. Even in C and Lisp. In fact there you can create bigger problems and more unreadable code.
    - berntb 15y ago
      You still needs comments that tell what the content of a code file is supposed to do, no matter how clear the code is. (And in scripting languages which doesn't declare parameters, like Python and old style Perl, you need to document what the parameters are.)
kokey 15y ago
As I get older and use perl for longer, I find that it gets easier to read other people's perl code. I find it still hard to read some of the php code out there. I think messy php code outdoes the messes I've seen in perl, and a big part of this is because there was no standard for php includes/modules for a while.

laaph 15y ago

Oh please can I quote you on that? What I used to say, which probably other people do too, is "Perl is a best language to write programs in so long as you can fit it in one line of code!"