Re: Learning ***** as a second language

[izut]

I was thinking about this few days ago. I just can say I can't use any other technology after meeting Perl. As neniro said, there are nice things in Python, Ruby, Java and PHP, but my opinion is Perl can do everything they can, but those can't do what Perl does.

So, my suggestion is: learn other usage for Perl than sysadmin scripts :-) There are a plenty of nice modules in CPAN that does about everything: from resolving card games to complex web applications, workflow control, etc. Improve your knowledge doing that, you'll see Perl always will surprises you ;-).

Update: After reading mrborisguy reply, I must emphasize that I am a former Java and PHP developer with unix background. The above text applies to me. I tried to perform the same tasks I do with Perl in Ruby, Python and Java but it really disappointed me. I think the only aditional language I would invest my time with is Ruby (after trying Ruby On Rails, but I switched back to Perl after I discovered CGI::Application and Class::DBI ;-)

[mrborisguy]

neniro said this earlier, and I completely agree with him. Perl is an incredibly powerful language that can do nearly anything. However, learning other languages helps any programmer think in different ways, which ultimately leads to finding the best solution for a problem more often. Some people rave about functional programming. Other people rave about Object Oriented Programming. Other people rave about AI programming. Other people rave about this and about that. It's true that a programmer can get Perl to do all of those things, if said programmer understands all of those things well. Learning other languages gives any programmer those tools because he or she understands the concepts and the best way to do things in that style from learning a relevant language. Learning other languages brings that all back to Perl to make the programmer more effective. If the programmer were just expanding his or her knowledge of Perl, sure, they'd end up picking some of that up just from Perl, but the programmer wouldn't have the deeper understanding of it, so would feel less comfortable using it to solve a problem.

    -Bryan