Re: Perl vs Python vs Ruby

Chris Barts <chbarts+usenet@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[ snip ]
> I agree fully, with the exception that @array -> $array[0] is
> somewhat irrational,

I think it makes perfect sense in the context of Perl. And Perl
is all about context. It's what makes it so powerful.

The [$@%] symbols indicate what type of data is being accessed,
not necessarily what type of variable it's accessed from.

> and that being able to use %foo, @foo,
> and $foo as unrelated variables in the same program is insane.

This is a valid point, but not one I personally feel strongly
about. This provides for the following confusion:

my %var = ( 0 => 'zero', 1 => 'one', 2 => 'two', 3 => 'three');
my @var = qw/zero one two three/;

print "@var[0..3]\n"; # array slice
print "@var{0..3}\n"; # hash slice

But most confusion like this can be avoided by using strict,
warnings, and descriptive variable names.

> Ruby is closely related to Smalltalk and Lisp. If you don't
> know either of those languages, and you should learn them,
> Ruby will indeed look foreign to you. (Personally, I think
> it's a very elegant language.)

$ruby++

Tim Hammerquist
.

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