[NBLUG/talk] Perl vs other scripting methods

[Walter Hansen]

> I would say simply that Python is an easy but powerful language. Python is
> good at accomplishing real programs in minimal amounts of time, and has
> bindings to almost all major GUI toolkits. Python was created to be one of
> the most intuitive languages out there, making it more human-readable and
> having less unnecessary syntax than other languages (semicolons and braces
> that are at this point in technologically useless).
>
> The main grievance I hear about Python is that "it forces a coding style
> on
> you," namely the required* tabbing. Honestly, that is one of the worst
> arguments I've heard, as it is one of the most free-form languages around.
> First off, you *should* be tabbing your code. If you aren't, then that's a
> problem in itself. Second, if you are so masochistic as to want to make
> your
> code in one line, then you can use semicolons like; this; here; if you so
> desire. (A Python script won an obfuscated code contest once.) Moreover,
> you
> can space code how you want, and add parentheses, move things, use tabs,
> not
> use tabs, whatever you please. I honestly couldn't point out a feature
> that C
> has to bastardize your code that Python doesn't (not that there should
> be).
>
> In a nutshell, the idea is elegance. Python is an elegant, human-readable
> language that tries to remove all of the unnecessary crap that keeps you
> from
> accomplishing your job: making the program. Programming shouldn't be about
> writing the code; it should be about developing the concept.


Does it have a code base similar to cpan? I'm kinda looking for if it can
go hook up wierd thing x with wierd thing y and then output to a web page
or email. That's actually one of the things I like about perl is that
there's nothing it can't do (at least not that I've found).