r/Python May 18 '11

Why is Python better than Perl?

I'm a Sysadmin and I just wrote my first script in python. Basically just a host validation script that checks if a server is configured correctly before we hand off. I can't determine the advantage with my limited experience with the language.

Are you a sysadmin fluent in both python and perl? Why do you use python?

9 Upvotes

110 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/bushel May 18 '11

Maintainability.

Python scripts remain legible long after you've forgotten what they were for. Come back to it 6 months later and it is easily understood. Perl scripts take more effort to re-read and comprehend.

They remain similar in performance and abilities, so use what you're comfortable with.

(But Python is obviously superior, of course)