I find python is still not as popular as perl

liuxu

Actually, I think python is better than perl. But I nearly can't find a free web host site which supports python cgi. Many of them support perl cgi.

In my company, many test scripts and building scripts are written in Perl. I have to study perl instead of python. However, perl is too strange to study.

Who can tell me which script is better and why?

_jarl_

Take a look at http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonHosting or webhosts4free.com !

MrBlueSky

I'm not going to debate on which is better, though I prefer Perl.

But Python will never be as popular as Perl. Not because it is better but for historical reasons. The same goes for other languages like C and Cobol.

_jarl_

I think perl is more popular because of its large collection of libraries. I cant see any analogy comparing python - perl and c - cobol. Perl to Python is much more like C++ to Java.

MrBlueSky

deepak

snicker

qscomputing

Personally, I prefer Perl.

Perl and Python each have their own philosophy about how a language should behave - and they are the complete opposite of each other: one example, Python says that there should be one and preferably only one good way to do something - whereas Perl says TIMTOWTDI (there is more than one way to do it, pronounced "Tim Toady").

If you're having problems understanding Perl, I recommend reading this:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pperl2/excerpt/ch01.html
It's the first chapter of the book Programming Perl, and it explains a lot of the ideas behind Perl and how things like sigils ($, @, %, etc) work.

HTH.