Perl Vs Python

[Will Stuyvesant]

["John Smith" <someone at microsoft.com>]
>   do Perl & Python do similar things?
>   What should be the rationalle to one or the other?

They do similar things.  They look different but you can get used to
both.  Their extensions (libraries, modules) have about equal power,
Perl has more and older stuff on CPAN, with versioning problems.

If it is important that other people can read your code later, use
Python.  Or make sure everybody adheres to *very* strict coding rules
using Perl (which is unworkable in practice).

If you want to write CGI scripts and you have an ISP like me, use
Perl.  They do not have Python installed and they don't want to be
bothered.  This is the normal situation with over 99% of the ISPs. 
Python needs some powerful lobbying *fast*; if it doesn't it will die,
and so will your code.

cynical-after-another-day-with-configuration-problems-ly-yrs