(slightly OT): Python and linux - very cool

[Steve Holden]

"Mart van de Wege" <mvdwege.usenet at drebbelstraat20.dyndns.org> wrote ...
> On Thu, 08 Aug 2002 19:41:02 +0200, Just wrote:
>
> > In article <o58uia-q8q.ln at drebbelstraat20.dyndns.org>,
> >  Mart van de Wege <mvdwege.usenet at drebbelstraat20.dyndns.org> wrote:
> >
> >> For example, this is what I recently did to extract all IPs from my
> >> access.log:
> >>
> >> ----- BEGIN SCRIPT -----
> >> #!/usr/bin/perl
> >>
> >> use warnings; # Make Perl picky about syntax.
> >> use strict; # Make Perl *really* picky.
> >>
> >> my @iplist; # Declare an array to hold all IP addresses.
> >>
> >> open (FILE, '/var/log/apache/access.log');
> >>
> >> while (<FILE>) {
> >> /^(\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+)?/;
> >> next unless $1; # Skip if the first field is somehow empty.
> >> next if $1 eq '127.0.0.1'; # Skip localhost.
> >> push @iplist, $1;
> >> }
> >> # @iplist now holds all IPs in the first field of access.log.
> >>
> >> ----- END SCRIPT -----
> >>
> >> Python can do this too of course, but somehow this is the sort of task
> >> that comes naturally to me in Perl. Note the use of the regexp:
> >>
> >> 1. I don't have to explicitly declare and compile it.
> >> 2. It operates on the default input variable ($_), so I don't have to
> >> specify its target, I just use a bare regexp.

Not having to explicitly compile regexps is certainly an advantage of Perl.
The need to do this in Python has always seemed a bit tedious, but since
it's a performance optimization most casual programs can live without it.

> >
> > import re
> >
> > iplist = []
> >
> > for line in open("/var/log/httpd/access_log"):
> >    m = re.match(r"^(\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+)", line)
> >    if m:
> >       ip = m.group(1)
> >       if ip != "127.0.0.1":
> >          iplist.append(ip)
> >
> >
> > I don't thinkthat's significantly worse (or better...) than the Perl
> > version?
>
> It isn't. Not at all.
>
> I just like the way it's done in Perl better. <shrug>
>
> Just a matter of taste I guess. You did miss one Perl advantage though:
> the default variable. A lot of Perl operators can take that as input, and
> it *can* make code cleaner and easier to write by eliminating temporary
> variables (like 'line' in your example).
>
Easier to write, yes, but "explicit is better than implicit" is often quoted
as one of the Python guiding maxims, and in this case I don't feel it helps
with code clarity.

Sure, when you're slinging strings and writing throwaway code, Perl is very
handy for this kind of stuff. I used to write a lot of it myself. If you're
a casual user or code-reader, though, it merely helps to hide communication
between program elements, thus obscuring the meaning of the code in a way
that the Python source doesn't.

> But again, it's a matter of taste. I like doing Gtk front-ends to my
> scripts a lot better in Python, just as I like filtering files better in
> Perl.
>
I guess our tastes differ. Fortunately, it takes all sorts to make a world.

regards
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Steve Holden                                 http://www.holdenweb.com/
Python Web Programming                http://pydish.holdenweb.com/pwp/
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