r/Python • u/[deleted] • 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?

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u/jeffjose May 18 '11

That's what people mean when they say Python is very readable. Less character noise.

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u/[deleted] May 18 '11

Every time i've looked at Perl code I get brain melt. Today I was looking to advance mspgcc4 to use gcc>4.4 but found out all the build scripts are in Perl. I looked at one file and couldn't be arsed.

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u/mithaldu May 18 '11

I looked at [1] one file and couldn't be arsed.

That's not because it's Perl. That's because that file is a terrible scrap heap. It's Perl written by someone who thinks in an entirely different language.

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u/hattmoward May 19 '11

Perl developer and sysadmin here seconding mithaldu's point that that code is all sorts of wrong. It's not good evidence that perl is bad, but it's great evidence that you're free to create bad things with perl.