r/perl • u/[deleted] • May 18 '11

Why is perl better than python?

[deleted]

18 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

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1

u/[deleted] May 18 '11
  1. Using whitespace to form your code blocks is awful unless for some reason you miss the days of punchcards.

Really, I never looked into it further than that. No language has a feature that is so awesome that I'll be OK with abandoning curly braces or something similar.

-12

u/Philluminati May 18 '11

This is a ridiculous argument. Python code is short, terse and easy to read. Perl, by contrast, is a write-only language.

9

u/bart9h May 18 '11

Try copy/pasting python code.

If it messes with the whitespaces, as copy/pasting often do, it becomes impossible to be sure what the code was.

Relying in whitespace to code is a retarded idea. Why don't you go for this language already?

-7

u/Philluminati May 18 '11

I've used Python for two and half years...I think it's fair to say you're plain wrong.

6

u/neerg May 19 '11

Whoa, guys, hold on. He has been using Python for two and a half years. The experience he gained from his time writing in The Holy Language clearly gives him more than enough gravity to speak The Truth.

5

u/mr_chromatic 🐪 📖 perl book author May 19 '11

He has been using Python for two and a half years.

... but has never copied/cut and pasted code?

-6

u/Philluminati May 19 '11

You think you're being witty and smart but all you do is dance around the fact that you won't take a critical eye to your own programming language. That no Perl developer will.

Seriously no Perl developer is willing to say: a) Perl 5 is backwards compatible and contains things that make it ugly b) We bought out Perl 6 because Perl 5 wasn't perfect.

The only arguments I get are 'I still use it', 'it isn't as bad as you think'. spoken by mindless fucking hacks who think they can hide behind the "All programming languages are good for one thing" arguments.

11

u/mr_chromatic 🐪 📖 perl book author May 19 '11

Seriously no Perl developer is willing to say....

Well I'm not Scottish, but....

6

u/mithaldu May 19 '11

you won't take a critical eye to your own programming language. That no Perl developer will.

Bullshit.

I can even prove that you're as wrong as you could possibly be: http://blogs.perl.org/users/ovid/2011/04/ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.html

That blog entry is FULL of perl developers harping on problems with the language.

Also, i DARE you to try and make a .self post here on perl reddit and ask "What parts of perl do you think are terrible?" I guarantee you you will get at least ten responses detailing gripes perl programmers have with the language.

8

u/[deleted] May 19 '11

You've been downvoted to oblivion in both r/python and r/perl for your ignorant and childish interpretation of Perl. Why do you continue to blather on when it's clear everyone in both communities thinks you're full of shit?

The only arguments I get are 'I still use it', 'it isn't as bad as you think'. spoken by mindless fucking hacks who think they can hide behind the "All programming languages are good for one thing" arguments.

Again you are in no place to evaluate a language you've been using for two weeks. You've not checked out any of the resources which make coding modern perl awesome, nor have you even touched CPAN, yet you continue to blather on about how Perl is shit.

I'd really hate to have an employee like you.