Python reading Berlkey DB-files made with Perl

[François Pinard]

> > The main reason for this question is that I want to use Python more,
> > and Perl less, mainly due to the arroganse newbies are met with in
> > the Perl-community.

> Certainly when I was a newbie here, people were friendly and helpful.

Exactly my story.  I'm not exactly a Perl newbie, having been with Perl since
the beginnings of Perl 1, long before it became widely known and popular.
Newbie or not, the Perl community of nowadays seems to be extremely arrogant
on average, and this is not the kind of peaceful environment I like to be in.

What appealed me into Python was the good reputation of its community.
Once in there, I learned to appreciate Python for what the language is,
and passed the point of no-return: I'm now definitely on the Python side.
See below.  Moreover, so far, Python people have really been superb with me.
I do feel like staying around! :-)

After having translated many thousands of Perl lines into Python, recently,
I find amazing how easy it is to modify or extend my translated code
after a mere, simple, straightforward, non-clever translation.  I do know
it was a bit nightmarish to handle before.  Strangely, this is nothing
more than a very rough and power-brutal gain in legibility, but a very
notable one.  I got much by investing nothing more than a rather servile,
tedious translation.  But now, I foresee how pleasurable it will be when
I will revisit the code later, to add real Pythonish touches here and there.

Today, I started translating many dozens of similar-looking `bash' scripts
into Python (for each package I install, I have a script able to repeat the
whole installation in one command).  I'm using one subclass per installable
package, able to override or fine-tune methods in a basic class offering
common functionalities.  Simple, clear, efficient.  The result will be
more easy (and fun) to maintain than my previous set of `bash' scripts!

-- 
François Pinard   http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~pinard