Python vs. Perl

[Steve Lamb]

On Tue, 22 May 2001 15:09:51 -0700, Jonathan Gardner <gardner at sounddomain.com>
wrote:
>Perl. What does Python have that makes it so great? Why should I spend time 
>to become intimate with it? I am looking for comments from people that 
>actually have used Perl or C/C++ extensively, and I am looking for comments 
>that go beyond the FAQ.

    Well, for this guy for whom Perl pays the bills, after using Python for a
very short amount of time I now find myself thinking, constantly, when working
with or debugging perl code, "Wish I could do this in Python".  After reading
what they are planning for Perl6, even more so.  

    It takes a little getting used to but the little details really add up
over time.  Easily read, easily understood, very elegant in its own right,
actually set up logically.  I know some Perl people have growled at me for
this example, but I prefer global foo over my(foo) any day of the week.  IE,
implicite local scope unless declared global, not vice versa.  At first I was
against the stricter type checking of Python.  I've since been bitten in the
arse by it in Perl and /want/ those checks there.  Oddly enough, guess what is
going in in Perl6.  ;)  Finally I've never been let down by the standard
library yet.  I want to muck around with something, there it is.  My reference
for Python is the Beazley book and I feel lest constrained and far more
productive with Python/Beazley than Perl/Programming Perl.

    YMMVG.

-- 
         Steve C. Lamb         | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
         ICQ: 5107343          | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
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