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This could have been titled "The Rise Of Python". Both languages have their uses. I write almost all of my code in Python these days, but fall back to Perl for
by nathancahill 13y ago
This could have been titled "The Rise Of Python".
Both languages have their uses. I write almost all of my code in Python these days, but fall back to Perl for complicated bash scripting. Shell scripts in Python feel clumsy, while Perl is very well suited for that environment.
- sliverstorm 13y agoAs a Perl programmer whose colleagues occasionally encourage me to switch to Python, can you tell me a little more about what you see to be the uses of each, and why Python feels clumsy for scripting?
- nathancahill 13y agoMy bash scripts usually deal with files and text processing. Bash and Perl are great for that, especially Perl when I need a little more structure. Perl is more performant than Python for these tasks. Python is great for other types of scripts though, I usually switch to Python when I need to interact with web services or databases (there are great libraries that make this really easy, Requests and SQLAlchemy). As far as Python feeling clumsy for shell scripts, things like importing basic os functions: import os, sys, shutil and: if __name__ == "__main__": don't make it feel like the best language for the job.
- Tossrock 13y agoIf you're not worried about using the script as a module later, you don't technically need the __name__=="__main__" guard.
- pyre 13y agoWhile I agree that Python seems more clumsy for shell-type scripting, Perl has most of the 'basic' OS functions scattered all over the place, not in a couple of comprehensive libraries. E.g.: File::Basename Cwd <= where abs_path resides, for some reason File::Path <= rmtree, etc File::Spec File::Spec::Functions ... etc ...
- crdoconnor 13y ago>Shell scripts in Python feel clumsy Not once you've seen this: http://amoffat.github.io/sh/ http://amoffat.github.io/sh/
- nathancahill 13y agoOh wow, that's pretty sweet. I'll have to play around with that.