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The article "addresses Perl's perceived problems" more then it tries to find what the real problems of Perl are. So here's my take on it: 1. Syntax. And how i

by cies 12y ago

The article "addresses Perl's perceived problems" more then it tries to find what the real problems of Perl are. So here's my take on it: 1. Syntax. And how it's almost impossible to change it after a certain level of language-adoption. Perl coders knew it needed to be radically changed, understood how that was impossible, and moved on. 2. As a result of 1: the shrinking community. It is a clear red flag, no-one wants to start a project in based on (soon to be) legacy technology. 3. The existence of very suitable languages for Perl-refugees. When Perl ruled the web it was pretty much the only open source, web-focussed, runtime-typed language with a package manager fully of goodies. But with Ruby, Python (, etc.) and their very active communities around, it became very easy to switch. 4. It missed academic backing. Having programmers "schooled" in a particular language seems to be important in this world. The winners in this area seem to be Java, C-Sharp, C++, C, Python and to some extend Haskell; Perl never managed to enter this league (and does not seem very fit).

bane 12y ago
> Perl never managed to enter this league For a while at least, Perl did find a home in Linguistics. While it was because of the excellent text parsing tools, it makes a strange kind of sense as well, since Perl was designed to be a bit more like a human language and I think Linguists appreciated that. But that's such a small field that the impact was negligible. Most of the modern Computational Linguistic work is done in Java and Python these days, but for a while, many people working in Linguistics came out of their undergrad with at least a passing familiarity with Perl. For a briefer spell, I seem to remember Perl finding a home in bioinformatics for much of the same reasons. I have no idea what or if that field has moved on to. For me personally, Perl was the ultimate hacker language when people needed to get shit done and that shit involved munging lots and lots of files in text. But I think these days the world has moved onto other things that Perl isn't any better suited for than some other language (which is then conversely better suited for a bunch of other stuff than Perl).
- hibbelig 12y ago
  > ... Perl was designed to be a bit more like a human language ... ADD A TO B GIVING C
  - ultimape 12y ago
    Comparing Perl to COBOL makes me think you've programmed in neither. edit here's some background on the Perl linguistics angle: http://world.std.com/~swmcd/steven/perl/linguistics.html http://world.std.com/~swmcd/steven/perl/linguistics.html
asjo 12y ago
> Perl never managed to enter this league Perl did have something of a stronghold in bioinformatics (sequencing the human genome etc.), although other languages are catching up.
- Natsu 12y ago
  What little I've seen were using pygr these days. I still love Perl, though. Maybe if $_ and co had 'friendlier' names people wouldn't be so put off? I don't know, I think it simply allows for too complex a syntax and that can allow people to make 'write only' code.
ultimape 12y ago
I learned Perl in college. It was also my first introduction to Linux. Having many Linux oriented commands baked in as first class citizens really helped cement a lot of complex concepts in my mind. That being said, teaching a language, vs using a language to teach can be two entirely different animals.
esaym 12y ago
I use perl because I love the syntax!

by cies 12y ago

bane 12y ago

> Perl never managed to enter this league For a while at least, Perl did find a home in Linguistics. While it was because of the excellent text parsing tools, it makes a strange kind of sense as well, since Perl was designed to be a bit more like a human language and I think Linguists appreciated that. But that's such a small field that the impact was negligible. Most of the modern Computational Linguistic work is done in Java and Python these days, but for a while, many people working in Linguistics came out of their undergrad with at least a passing familiarity with Perl. For a briefer spell, I seem to remember Perl finding a home in bioinformatics for much of the same reasons. I have no idea what or if that field has moved on to. For me personally, Perl was the ultimate hacker language when people needed to get shit done and that shit involved munging lots and lots of files in text. But I think these days the world has moved onto other things that Perl isn't any better suited for than some other language (which is then conversely better suited for a bunch of other stuff than Perl).

hibbelig 12y ago
> ... Perl was designed to be a bit more like a human language ... ADD A TO B GIVING C
- ultimape 12y ago
  Comparing Perl to COBOL makes me think you've programmed in neither. edit here's some background on the Perl linguistics angle: http://world.std.com/~swmcd/steven/perl/linguistics.html http://world.std.com/~swmcd/steven/perl/linguistics.html

asjo 12y ago

> Perl never managed to enter this league Perl did have something of a stronghold in bioinformatics (sequencing the human genome etc.), although other languages are catching up.

Natsu 12y ago
What little I've seen were using pygr these days. I still love Perl, though. Maybe if $_ and co had 'friendlier' names people wouldn't be so put off? I don't know, I think it simply allows for too complex a syntax and that can allow people to make 'write only' code.

ultimape 12y ago

I learned Perl in college. It was also my first introduction to Linux. Having many Linux oriented commands baked in as first class citizens really helped cement a lot of complex concepts in my mind. That being said, teaching a language, vs using a language to teach can be two entirely different animals.

esaym 12y ago

I use perl because I love the syntax!