Python vs. Perl, which is better to learn?

[Christopher Browne]

In an attempt to throw the authorities off his trail, Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> transmitted:
> Chris wrote:
>> 
>> In article <f0fd5987.0204300105.51529004 at posting.google.com>,
>>  gtaylor at lowebroadway.com (Garry Taylor) wrote:
>> 
>> > I use Perl at work day in day out, and use Python for my own personal
>> > stuff, I would say that Python is better for pretty much everything,
>> > particularly larger programs, where it's more structured syntax makes
>> > code easier to read. I quite like Perl for CGI scripting, and little
>> > 1-page scripts, but would never contemplate using it for a big
>> > project.
>> 
>> I would have agreed a few months ago.  However, once you understand how
>> to write modules in Perl, and how Perl's take on OO works, it becomes
>> much easier to create large projects.
>
> It's not understanding how to write the modules that matters:
> it's understanding how to read them.
>
> Perl is relatively unreadable, whereas Python is eminently readable.
>
> Any company investing a large amount in large Perl applications is
> just asking for trouble, although their employees will have excellent
> job security for as long as the company can survive...

Overuse of regexes can certainly Lead To Evil.

Outside of that, I'd suggest that a lot of the problem comes from Perl
having been a "hot, in-language" attracting a lot of bad programmers.

  "If Ada became the hot, in-language  you would see a lot more bad code
   in   Ada."    
   -- Thaddeus L.  Olczyk <olczyk at interaccess.com>, comp.lang.C++

Substitute Python for Ada and it still remains truth...

Then consider the FORTRAN comments:

  "I don't know why, but first C programs tend to look a lot worse
  than first programs in any other language (maybe except for FORTRAN,
  but then I suspect all FORTRAN programs look like `firsts')" -- Olaf
  Kirch

  An engineer is someone who does list processing in FORTRAN.

The old "Real Programmers Don't Write Pascal" essay has the comment
that "Real Programmers can write FORTRAN code in any language."

I've seen similar happen where COBOL programmers wrote COBOL code in
whatever new language they encountered.

A company investing a large amount in applications being developed by
hapless programmers is just asking for trouble irrespective of what
language they use.
-- 
(concatenate 'string "chris" "@cbbrowne.com")
http://www3.sympatico.ca/cbbrowne/
LOGO is  not a language. It's a  way to simulate 'skid  marks' made by
turtles with serious bowel control problems.