Re: Perl Monks += TMTOWTDI

[Desdinova]

Most of the time i come to perlmonks with a question it is usually "whats the best module for X..." The great thing here is that i can a couple of recomendations from people, I don't think you can automaticlly say which is better unles syou know the project and the direction it is going to go in as well as the person writing the code.

Take for example the ::Simple subset of modules, if I am trying to perfomr a common task with little fuss than the *::Simple version is better, but if I am attempting something odd than I will need the find grain control offered by the base module. When looking at things like the XML::* modules it gets even more specific, with the different models for looking at that data. My point is that "better" is subjective based on what YOU are doing with the code you write.

As for searching for other modules when searching here i try to look for posts with a mention of the task I am trying to accomplish like "sending email" this will usually bring a few discussions with different modules listed and what situations they fit well in. This has worked well for me so far.

Another thing I find useful is the See also section in the CPAN docs for the modules. Oftem times the modules writer realize that thier solution might not be the best fit for everyone and point to to other options, I feel this feeling of cooperation between modules writers rather than compition is one of the reason PERL is so useful..
Anyway thats my 1/50th of dollar on this topic.