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> Yes. Scripting powers of Perl are unmatched. Can you offer any examples of how that is true?

kamaal 13y ago
There is monumental material on this in sites like Perlmonks. I started writing a detailed reply, but half way down I realized it might become a booklet project[Which is a very good project idea by the way] I also realized I may not be able to justice to 3 decades of Perl history in one HN comment. So the best I can do is point you out to two links. http://hop.perl.plover.com/ http://hop.perl.plover.com/ and http://onyxneon.com/books/modern_perl/ http://onyxneon.com/books/modern_perl/
- skrebbel 13y ago
  So in order to be convinced that Perl is a force to take seriously, we need to read two entire books?
  - singingfish 13y ago
    Short answer: python is perl for bureaucrats and computer scientists. Ruby is perl for people who realised php is awful. Perl fits the same niche as English does for natural language - used everywhere, easy to learn for simple cases,very tough to master. The way I like to say it is that while most programming languages help you think more like the computer, perl helps the computer think more like you do.
  - kamaal 13y ago
    In order to convinced about anything, you need to read documentation. And you need to learn how to read it well. I've read the awk and sed man pages so many times, yet everytime I have to type a command I have to read it again.
- JimmyM 13y ago
  Those books look pretty general. Could you perhaps give just one or two examples which make Perl great specifically for scripting, to someone who does not know any Perl at all?
- mattikl 13y ago
  Perl is a great tool for scripting, but calling it "unmatched" is hard to justify. Knowing Python or Ruby well, you can be efficient scripting with them, and that's what scripting is all about, getting the job done fast. Higher Order Perl is one of the best books I've read, but I feel that's much more about software development than scripting, teaching the fundamental techniques in functional programming.
- danellis 13y ago
  I was really just asking for a couple of short examples of scripts that demonstrate your point, based on Perl as it is now, not anything regarding its history.

There is monumental material on this in sites like Perlmonks. I started writing a detailed reply, but half way down I realized it might become a booklet project[Which is a very good project idea by the way] I also realized I may not be able to justice to 3 decades of Perl history in one HN comment. So the best I can do is point you out to two links. http://hop.perl.plover.com/ http://hop.perl.plover.com/ and http://onyxneon.com/books/modern_perl/ http://onyxneon.com/books/modern_perl/

skrebbel 13y ago
So in order to be convinced that Perl is a force to take seriously, we need to read two entire books?
- singingfish 13y ago
  Short answer: python is perl for bureaucrats and computer scientists. Ruby is perl for people who realised php is awful. Perl fits the same niche as English does for natural language - used everywhere, easy to learn for simple cases,very tough to master. The way I like to say it is that while most programming languages help you think more like the computer, perl helps the computer think more like you do.
- kamaal 13y ago
  In order to convinced about anything, you need to read documentation. And you need to learn how to read it well. I've read the awk and sed man pages so many times, yet everytime I have to type a command I have to read it again.
JimmyM 13y ago
Those books look pretty general. Could you perhaps give just one or two examples which make Perl great specifically for scripting, to someone who does not know any Perl at all?
mattikl 13y ago
Perl is a great tool for scripting, but calling it "unmatched" is hard to justify. Knowing Python or Ruby well, you can be efficient scripting with them, and that's what scripting is all about, getting the job done fast. Higher Order Perl is one of the best books I've read, but I feel that's much more about software development than scripting, teaching the fundamental techniques in functional programming.
danellis 13y ago
I was really just asking for a couple of short examples of scripts that demonstrate your point, based on Perl as it is now, not anything regarding its history.