A developer asked me how I was scripting an integration task. I replied PERL, then he smiled and said, "How quaint.". There were platform limitations that made PERL or Java the only choices in that situation.
So I ask you, is PERL "quaint" ?
What language do you use for scripting and why?
What language would you use if you would/could/had-to change?
I prefer to recycle code rather than start fresh. PERL and Java both being cross platform increases my chances to do that. However I have always had Java version incompatibility issues as a user (not a developer) and the litany of security issues does not inspire confidence. The latest TIOBE survey shows PERL and Java both holding steady, yet Java has a commanding lead at 17% to Perl's 2%.
Using the native CLI is frequently the fastest means to an end. BASH is fantastic for UNIX/Linux and even on Cygwin at times. I use BASH extensively for UNIX/Linux administration tasks. There are some PERL one-liners that I cannot live without. I find myself using them from BASH scripts. Windows command/cmd CLI is not adequate, however it is sometimes all you get. MS PowerShell is a huge improvement and is an integral part of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 now. I only took a casual glance, but I understand advanced Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory administration essentially requires working PowerShell knowledge. However, ActiveState PERL can easily be included in a self-extracting executable. Even on Windows, PERL's portability proves its worth - especially when paired with the available WMI libraries.
C and its derivatives are not scripting languages, they are programming languages. Any thing requiring a compile is too much effort. I worked with PHP for web server forms and database integration and found it very nifty, even PERL-ish. PHP is heavily geared towards web though, making finding one-liners and shell tasks sadly difficult to find. A friend's learning/using LUA to manage SIP calls. So LUA and Python are on my short list for personal development. Python would likely be the more useful, but LUA sounds slick(er). Looking forward to comments.
Refs:
"TIOBE Programming Community Index for January 2013" URL
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html
"FOLDIT Wiki LUA Scripting" URL
http://foldit.wikia.com/wiki/Lua_Scripting
"Python » 3.3.0 Documentation » Tutorial" URL
http://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/
So I ask you, is PERL "quaint" ?
What language do you use for scripting and why?
What language would you use if you would/could/had-to change?
I prefer to recycle code rather than start fresh. PERL and Java both being cross platform increases my chances to do that. However I have always had Java version incompatibility issues as a user (not a developer) and the litany of security issues does not inspire confidence. The latest TIOBE survey shows PERL and Java both holding steady, yet Java has a commanding lead at 17% to Perl's 2%.
Using the native CLI is frequently the fastest means to an end. BASH is fantastic for UNIX/Linux and even on Cygwin at times. I use BASH extensively for UNIX/Linux administration tasks. There are some PERL one-liners that I cannot live without. I find myself using them from BASH scripts. Windows command/cmd CLI is not adequate, however it is sometimes all you get. MS PowerShell is a huge improvement and is an integral part of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 now. I only took a casual glance, but I understand advanced Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory administration essentially requires working PowerShell knowledge. However, ActiveState PERL can easily be included in a self-extracting executable. Even on Windows, PERL's portability proves its worth - especially when paired with the available WMI libraries.
C and its derivatives are not scripting languages, they are programming languages. Any thing requiring a compile is too much effort. I worked with PHP for web server forms and database integration and found it very nifty, even PERL-ish. PHP is heavily geared towards web though, making finding one-liners and shell tasks sadly difficult to find. A friend's learning/using LUA to manage SIP calls. So LUA and Python are on my short list for personal development. Python would likely be the more useful, but LUA sounds slick(er). Looking forward to comments.
Refs:
"TIOBE Programming Community Index for January 2013" URL
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html
"FOLDIT Wiki LUA Scripting" URL
http://foldit.wikia.com/wiki/Lua_Scripting
"Python » 3.3.0 Documentation » Tutorial" URL
http://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/
Comments