RE: Comparing Regular Expression in Perl vs Python


Thanks Tom for describing perl in very short but very sweet way!

"In a perfect world, you would learn every possible programming
language, then you could always choose the best one for each task. If
you did that, you'd probably write most of your programs in Perl."

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Phoenix [mailto:tom@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 4:26 AM
To: JBallinger
Cc: beginners@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Comparing Regular Expression in Perl vs Python

On 11/28/07, JBallinger <ballingerjohns@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I recently heard about Python. They claimed that it is easier to learn

and to program in Python than in Perl.

My friends say that Ford is great and Chevy sux. What do you Chevy
people think? I don't think you're really intending to post flamebait,
but you have to realize that this is a *Perl* forum.

Most of my work is relating to transformation of one text file format
to another.
Therefore, I wonder whether anyone has experience doing this in
Python; and does what they claimed is true?

You can transform one text file format to another in pretty much any
competent programming language.

There are very few people who like both Python and Perl. The ones who
prefer Python generally love it; the ones who prefer Perl are just as
ardent. One of the big differences is that Perl has many many defaults,
such as default variables or parameters, which can make programming
simpler. Python is very explicit, with few defaults; that can make it
easier to understand a program at first sight, but in exchange it
generally takes more time to write and maintain your code.

Besides the language itself, it's useful to have libraries of code that
can enhance the language with additional features. Perl is a great
workhorse largely because of CPAN's thousands of modules:

http://search.cpan.org/

In a perfect world, you would learn every possible programming language,
then you could always choose the best one for each task. If you did
that, you'd probably write most of your programs in Perl.

Hope this helps!

--Tom Phoenix
Stonehenge Perl Training
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