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wow. what a mess ... and they're still not done. seriously, mod me down if you will, but someone has to say it. i will carry this cross :P - compare this, with
by utx00 17y ago
wow. what a mess ... and they're still not done. seriously, mod me down if you will, but someone has to say it. i will carry this cross :P - compare this, with something that would be titled "what you can do with python 3 today", or ruby, clojure, cl-lisp, javascript ... perl was revolutionary and it changed the world. we were using it at a NY financial institution since v4. we loved it. when 5 came out, we went all in. we had configuration files in perl, when every one else was writing parsers, home made databases when people had to buy sybase licences, home made template languages (yes, more than one. it was that easy) when others were struggling with c++ string libraries. and we killed; (lispers had always had these and more benefits) but alas, the world has moved on.
... and we're getting tired. it is much easier to find ruby and python guys, and i always thought ... "python? that's for sissies." until we tried it. and fellow programmers, i still had energy at the end of the day. that was the most striking. perl tires you out. perl culture and community tires you out. what a difference python makes.
initially i missed some things, but you quickly begin to see the light, and in no way will go back.
my theory is that python/js/lisp are simple because the core ideas are few. ie, because the rest of the language is the logical implication of a relatively few simple ideas. lisp is the best at this. the fewer special forms, the fact that you write in the same data structures the compiler sees (less complication) which translates into less to remember. less to keep in mind (quickly, what is the difference between 'use' and 'require' and system("") or system(@) ... bleh) which leads to less energy needs to get your stuff done. on this energy scale, perl rates pretty high. not as high as c++ but high enough that i never want to use it again.
so go ahead reader, mod me down and throw your tantrum, and try python (or ruby, etc ...)
- kingkongrevenge 17y ago> compare this, with something that would be titled "what you can do with python 3 today", or ruby, clojure, cl-lisp, javascript This is about syntax. Please do post the equivalent examples in any of those languages. I bet the perl 6 will be a lot shorter, which is the whole point.
- utx00 17y agoit is less to type, yes. it is not conceptually shorter; not to me at any rate. so if it works for you, great.
- gamache 17y agoI modded you down because you told me to, twice.
- utx00 17y agoha! ok. fair enough.
- jrockway 17y agoWait, you're saying Lisp is simpler than Perl and then you use "use" and "require" as examples? How are "use" and "require" different from "(eval-when :compile-toplevel ..." and "(eval-when :load-toplevel ..." and "(eval-when :execute"? Lisp and Python aren't as simple as you think they are, and Perl isn't as complicated, either.
- utx00 17y agodifferent keywords passed to a well understood form: "eval-when". what each opt does can be horrendously complicated if you so chose. however i understand the evaluation rules and can just focus on learning what each option does. require on the other hand can take a string, but it can also take a VERSION expression that will then be compared to $]. but wait, there's more. it can also be a literal v5.6.1 - that works too. otherwise it will look for a library. if the expression is a bare word require will conveniently add the .pm for you, however notice that $lib = 'somelib' require $lib is not a bare word therefore you need to add the '.pm' ... i'm tired already.
- wolverian 17y agoThe original post was about Perl 6, though.
- mahmud 17y agoeval-when is black magic :-P