Why use Python when we've got Perl?

[Aahz Maruch]

In article <2GJsiHANGbt3Ew6i at jessikat.demon.co.uk>,
Robin Becker  <robin at jessikat.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>Lets face it; the perlers have a fairly hopeless position when it comes
>to defending the perl language (I once described perl as being like awk
>on steroids and lsd). 

Not really.  While there's lots to dislike about Perl, there's also some
things it does very nicely.  For example, it'd be really cool in Python
if I defined a function foo() and it could distinguish between each of
the following:

   x = foo()
   y = [ foo() ]
   z = { foo() }

Basic Perl is in some ways easier to pick up than Python for someone who
is a sysadmin but not a programmer.  Also, while it's easier to write
good Python programs, it's easier to debug Perl programs -- I'm not
counting IDLE because it requires a GUI.

Arguing over whether Python is "better" than Perl is like arguing over
whether European food is better than Asian.
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