[ale] Programming Question - Where to Start

[Charles Marcus]

HI Joe,

I took what John said to mean, learning Python wouldn't help me a lot if
what I wanted to learn was Perl.  As for your last comment, does anyone know
of any kind of document that lists the 'best uses' of the different
programming languages/tools?  That might give me an idea, based on the
things that I want to accomplish initially, as to what language to start
with.

Of course, it goes without saying that there are many different ways to
accomplish the same thing, and there probably aren;t that many things that
you can do in one language that you can't do in another, but that doesn't
mean there isn't a 'best' choice - ie, something that Perl can do in 2 lines
that it might take 20 lines to do in Python, although, now that I think
about it, this is something that depends on the skill/experience of the
programmer, as one person might do something in 2 lines of Perl that somenoe
else would do in 10, because they didn't think of the 2 line method.

Obviously, I could go 'round and 'round about which is best, and wouldn't
get anywhere.  I think I'll spend a few weeks reading some books, and then
decide on either Python or Perl, and just plat it by ear.

I really appreciate all the feedback.  I now have a roadmap, so its time to
get my hands dirty.

Charles

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe at media-brokers.com [mailto:Joe at media-brokers.com]On Behalf Of
To: ale at ale.org
Joseph A Knapka
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2001 7:52 AM
To: John Wells
Cc: ale at ale.org
Subject: Re: [ale] Programming Question - Where to Start


John Wells wrote:

<snip>

> I assume all people who subscribe to this list are
> reasonably intelligent.  It takes a reasonably
> intelligent person to learn and understand Perl.
> Learning python, java and sh to get to Perl is a waste
> of time.

That's the silliest argument I've read in ages.
You seem to be saying that Perl is the only language
worth knowing. What's up with that?

In software, as with any other creative endeavor,
it makes sense to use the right tool for the job.
There is no language that's the right tool for
every job.

Cheers,

-- Joe
# "You know how many remote castles there are along the
#  gorges? You can't MOVE for remote castles!" - Lu Tze re. Uberwald
# (Obsolete as of 2.4.12) Linux MM docs:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jknapka/linux-mm/vmoutline.html

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