[TriLUG] Broad question

[William Sutton via TriLUG]

I'm an old Perl hand, but keep seeing newer stuff with Python and other 
modern "sexy" languages.  I echo the comment about Python introducing 
breakages periodically.  That said, given the original question positing 
Java as an alternative ... just don't.  Aside from the pain factor, at 
$WORK we recently went through an audit because Oracle is getting touchy 
about licensing their JDK.  I can see a time when they get touchy about 
openjedk.  Also, as far as web apps go, I see lots of places (and 
browsers) deprecating Java as a security risk.

One more negative about Python:  the use of indentation to determine 
scope.  That's just a horrible idea.

William Sutton

On Sat, 2 Sep 2023, Stephen P. Schaefer via TriLUG wrote:

> My experience with Python is that its ecosystem introduces breaking changes every half dozen years or so, whereas perl 5 code from the 1990s just works.  Maybe I just got lucky with the perl modules I experienced.  As for readability, I tried finding a bug in the Red Hat/CentOS subscription-manager python code once (wasn't accepting our internal certificate authority when communicating with Foreman (if it had been Satellite it would have been Red Hat's problem)), and I was not enthused.   Python's churn may be good for keeping one employed.....
>
> On Sat, Sep 2, 2023, at 4:40 PM, Steve Litt via TriLUG wrote:
>> Scott Lambdin via TriLUG said on Fri, 1 Sep 2023 17:01:49 -0400
>>
>>> Gentle beings,
>>>
>>> I find myself retired a little earlier than I expected so I'm moving to
>>> Mexico.
>>>
>>> I want to work on a project that is basically a site where people can
>>> play four handed chess. My skills are way out of date, and I am hoping
>>> you could just recommend the modern technologies I can start learning.
>>> I know perl and c (albeit with a layer of dust an inch think). But I
>>> am willing to go a
>>> new direction.  I would especially like a platform that might someday
>>> help me get some gig work.
>>
>> I did a lot of professional Perl work in the late 1990's, and some Free
>> Software Perl work in the early 00's, but in my opinion Perl's "many
>> ways" philosophy makes it easy for a developer to shoot himself in the
>> foot, and almost guarantees that Perl developers won't be able to read
>> each others' code unless they Perl with similar dialects.
>>
>> For things that need to be fast, small, and/or interface with the OS, C
>> is great. Use it!
>>
>> I'd recommend Python to replace Perl. Python isn't the best language in
>> the world (Lua is), but with its spectacularly curated standard library
>> plus other available packages, you're pretty much guaranteed that
>> anything you start with Python you finish with Python (perhaps with a
>> little C).
>>
>> I can't imagine C getting you gig work, but I'd imagine that Python is
>> as likely to get you gig work as any other *single* language.
>>
>> SteveT
>>
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> -- 
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