4 ms·

"I wonder if it is because its big brother Perl, which it used to tease, is no longer around to tease." Excuse me? Perl is doing just fine. The Python commun

by fuzzix 14y ago

"I wonder if it is because its big brother Perl, which it used to tease, is no longer around to tease." Excuse me? Perl is doing just fine. The Python community doesn't really need a whipping boy, does it? It was quite offputting to me when Python texts, when promoting the features of the language, were essentially reduced to "It's more readable than Perl!" Is it as powerful and expressive as Perl or is anything sacrificed for this supposed readability? (I never saw it myself).

lmm 14y ago
Perl is certainly a lot less prominent than it used to be. It seems to have fallen out of favour as a web backend, it was never popular on the desktop, and I'm not seeing any interest in making it work on mobile. While I wouldn't say it was dying, it seems to be falling into the "scripting ghetto" that we worked so hard to escape.
- draegtun 14y ago
  > and I'm not seeing any interest in making it work on mobile An accepted grant to make it easier to compile perl5 on Android is currently in progress: http://news.perlfoundation.org/2012/05/grant-application-improving-cr.html http://news.perlfoundation.org/2012/05/grant-application-imp... | http://news.perlfoundation.org/2012/09/improving-cross-compilation-of.html http://news.perlfoundation.org/2012/09/improving-cross-compi.... Also there is Perldroid - http://code.google.com/p/perldroid/ http://code.google.com/p/perldroid/ And I assume SL4A is still available on Android? - http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/ http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/ And for many years I had perl5 running on my Symbian phone :)
- raiph 14y ago
  Perl 6 on Android: http://blogs.perl.org/users/martin_berends/2012/06/rakudo-perl-6-on-android-ics-403.html http://blogs.perl.org/users/martin_berends/2012/06/rakudo-pe... (Early adopters only!)
jayflux 14y ago
"perl is doing just fine" http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/paperinfo/tpci/Perl.html http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/paperinfo/tpci/Perl.html ^^ Really?
- fuzzix 14y ago
  Sure. http://blog.timbunce.org/2009/05/17/tiobe-index-is-being-gamed/ http://blog.timbunce.org/2009/05/17/tiobe-index-is-being-gam...
koide 14y ago
I've heard many people saying that "Perl doesn't scale" - "90% of the successful startups run RoR, why wouldn't you?" - "If you use Perl and you get web scale you'll have many problems" I don't give at all credibility to such comments, but I have heard them. Perl's becoming every day more of a niche language. Maybe some marketing about great Perl built projects could help. Does something like this exist?
- draegtun 14y ago
  > Maybe some marketing about great Perl built projects could help. Does something like this exist? Some do get "marketed" via Perl News (http://perlnews.org/ http://perlnews.org/) or PerlMonks (http://www.perlmonks.org/ http://www.perlmonks.org/). But I know of many Perl built projects which you only get to hear about via contacts, mailing lists or jobs postings. Here are some announcements of Perl built projects (that I recalled and found quickly)... * The Secrets Behind Blekko's Search Technology - http://www.readwriteweb.com/hack/2010/12/the-secrets-behind-blekkos-search-technology.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/hack/2010/12/the-secrets-behind-... * DuckDuckGo Architecture - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=525048 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=525048 * LOVEFiLM’s love affair with open source - http://www.itpro.co.uk/622960/lovefilm-s-love-affair-with-open-source http://www.itpro.co.uk/622960/lovefilm-s-love-affair-with-op... * Trendshare.org - http://www.modernperlbooks.com/mt/2012/09/announcing-my-new-powered-by-perl-projects.html http://www.modernperlbooks.com/mt/2012/09/announcing-my-new-... And here is a list of Perl start-ups that come to mind: Lokku, Moonfruit, CareerJet & Adzuna.
  - smacktoward 14y ago
    Some do get "marketed" via Perl News or PerlMonks Marketing is bringing your story to people who don't already know about it. Readers of Perl News and PerlMonks are very likely to already be Perl users/advocates.
- dalke 14y ago
  Your response might be "what percentage of the failed startups run RoR?" ;)

by fuzzix 14y ago

lmm 14y ago

Perl is certainly a lot less prominent than it used to be. It seems to have fallen out of favour as a web backend, it was never popular on the desktop, and I'm not seeing any interest in making it work on mobile. While I wouldn't say it was dying, it seems to be falling into the "scripting ghetto" that we worked so hard to escape.

draegtun 14y ago
> and I'm not seeing any interest in making it work on mobile An accepted grant to make it easier to compile perl5 on Android is currently in progress: http://news.perlfoundation.org/2012/05/grant-application-improving-cr.html http://news.perlfoundation.org/2012/05/grant-application-imp... | http://news.perlfoundation.org/2012/09/improving-cross-compilation-of.html http://news.perlfoundation.org/2012/09/improving-cross-compi.... Also there is Perldroid - http://code.google.com/p/perldroid/ http://code.google.com/p/perldroid/ And I assume SL4A is still available on Android? - http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/ http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/ And for many years I had perl5 running on my Symbian phone :)
raiph 14y ago
Perl 6 on Android: http://blogs.perl.org/users/martin_berends/2012/06/rakudo-perl-6-on-android-ics-403.html http://blogs.perl.org/users/martin_berends/2012/06/rakudo-pe... (Early adopters only!)

jayflux 14y ago

"perl is doing just fine" http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/paperinfo/tpci/Perl.html http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/paperinfo/tpci/Perl.html ^^ Really?

fuzzix 14y ago
Sure. http://blog.timbunce.org/2009/05/17/tiobe-index-is-being-gamed/ http://blog.timbunce.org/2009/05/17/tiobe-index-is-being-gam...

koide 14y ago

I've heard many people saying that "Perl doesn't scale" - "90% of the successful startups run RoR, why wouldn't you?" - "If you use Perl and you get web scale you'll have many problems" I don't give at all credibility to such comments, but I have heard them. Perl's becoming every day more of a niche language. Maybe some marketing about great Perl built projects could help. Does something like this exist?

draegtun 14y ago
> Maybe some marketing about great Perl built projects could help. Does something like this exist? Some do get "marketed" via Perl News (http://perlnews.org/ http://perlnews.org/) or PerlMonks (http://www.perlmonks.org/ http://www.perlmonks.org/). But I know of many Perl built projects which you only get to hear about via contacts, mailing lists or jobs postings. Here are some announcements of Perl built projects (that I recalled and found quickly)... * The Secrets Behind Blekko's Search Technology - http://www.readwriteweb.com/hack/2010/12/the-secrets-behind-blekkos-search-technology.php http://www.readwriteweb.com/hack/2010/12/the-secrets-behind-... * DuckDuckGo Architecture - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=525048 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=525048 * LOVEFiLM’s love affair with open source - http://www.itpro.co.uk/622960/lovefilm-s-love-affair-with-open-source http://www.itpro.co.uk/622960/lovefilm-s-love-affair-with-op... * Trendshare.org - http://www.modernperlbooks.com/mt/2012/09/announcing-my-new-powered-by-perl-projects.html http://www.modernperlbooks.com/mt/2012/09/announcing-my-new-... And here is a list of Perl start-ups that come to mind: Lokku, Moonfruit, CareerJet & Adzuna.
- smacktoward 14y ago
  Some do get "marketed" via Perl News or PerlMonks Marketing is bringing your story to people who don't already know about it. Readers of Perl News and PerlMonks are very likely to already be Perl users/advocates.
dalke 14y ago
Your response might be "what percentage of the failed startups run RoR?" ;)