Java and Perl (was Re: [plug] Time & Task Management Tool)

[Christian]

This is a rather stupid argument but I'll stick my oar in nonetheless.
:)

Trevor Phillips didn't write:
> > Besides, we started discussing the merits of Java. They stand alone, but
> > to illustrate them I made some comparison with Perl. For many things where
> > Perl requires add-ons, java doesn't because the capability's built in. I
> > can also find all manner of advantages to perl, but that's not the
> > original question.

If you're talking about client-side processing then Perl is not used at
all (afaik) so Java/JavaScript (et al) are the only options.  If you're
talking about server-side processing (which I believe you are) then Java
itself is an add-on.  While Perl comes on pretty much every modern Unix,
Java is a 20 meg download.  And if you happened to be in the unlikely
situation of not having Perl installed on your system or available on
easily accessible distribution media then Perl is a 4-5 meg download.

> > Nobody learns perl in a couple of hours. You might learn a little perl in
> > that, but I have a book containing about 650 pp. Nobody can even READ it
> > in that.

I learnt Perl probably in about 2-3 hours of reading total.  When I say
"learnt Perl" I mean enough to write some fairly advanced CGI scripts
and master most of the language's core features.  Nearly two years later
and several major Perl applications later, 80% of what I know now I
learnt in those first couple of hours.  Programming Perl is 650 pages. 
Learning Perl is another 300.  Advanced Perl Programming is... Perl
Coolbook is... This is not even counting all the manual pages and other
online documentation. If you seriously believe you have to read all
available documentation to understand or be able to use something then I
wonder how you ever managed to learn anything.

As for Java, I've probably spent at least 2 or 3 hours reading about
that and I've even taught it for a semester but god help anyone who asks
me to write them a Java applet!

Regards,

Christian.

-- 
========================================================================
I'm not trying to give users what they want, I'm trying to give them
freedom, which they can then accept or reject. If people don't want
freedom, they may be out of luck with me, but I won't allow them to 
define for me what is right, what is worth spending my life for.
                                                    - Richard Stallman