OO misconceptions

[Alex Martelli]

"Tim Hammerquist" <tim at vegeta.ath.cx> wrote in message
news:slrn9l7a8r.rpe.tim at vegeta.ath.cx...
    ...
> > > My only regret is that so many people in this NG are so violently
> > > anti-Perl.  I always thought that if someone as cynical, stubborn, and
> > > arrogant as I am can love both languages, anybody could.
    ...
> > and (b) the few I might not argue against would likely be "better in
> > Perl" only because of some ugly situation such as maintaining
> > compatibility with a legacy system, supported by programmers who
    ...
> > Any other application, and I would probably say Python was a
> > better choice...
>
> This is where our opinions (on both languages) differ, and where we
> might as well agree to disagree?

I wasn't part of this discussion, but since, for once, there
does seem to be a chance for a fair-headed, non-flaming
comparison, I'd be loath to see it fizzle out with an "agree
to disagree" when no technical issues have been discussed
(it seems to me).

Declaring my bias: I am "violently anti-Perl" myself, mostly
because I wrote a *LOT* of Perl code (and helped others write
it, and maintain it, and maintained a lot myself, etc, etc).
If Python wasn't around, I'd probably still be doing so (and
hating it) for lack of viable alternatives.  Since discovering
Python, I moved to Python all code I had in Perl.  When asked
for help, advice, &c, about maintaining Perl, studying Perl,
&c, my invariable answer today is "do it in Python instead".

It seems to me that the niches of applicability for Python and
Perl are totally overlapping: I cannot think of application
areas where Perl would be preferable, except, I guess, if there
were deployment constraints, such as those above-quoted or
similar ones (e.g., say you're allowed to use mod_perl but NOT
mod_python & similar Apache mods, then it might be unfeasible to
do certain things in Python; or, similarly, if there was some
crucial module already existing for Perl and it was unfeasible
to port it for Python).  Similarly, I cannot think of application
areas where Python could make sense but Perl wouldn't, except,
again, for possible deployment constraints (need to use Jython,
or Numeric, etc etc).  So what are those "application areas where
Perl is clearly preferable to Python", and vice versa, that make
it worthwhile to use both languages for new development (not just
maintenance of legacy stuff that one prefers not to port)?  Are
you just referring to deployment constraints ("I'm not allowed to
use mod_python but mod_perl IS allowed", &c) or is there something
deeper that I'm missing?


Alex