Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cwjcc!hal!ncoast!allbery
From: allbery@NCoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery)
Newsgroups: alt.sources.d
Subject: Re: uutraffic report (in perl)
Message-ID: <1989Nov23.161619.22020@NCoast.ORG>
Date: 23 Nov 89 16:16:19 GMT
References: <14949@bfmny0.UU.NET>
Reply-To: allbery@ncoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery)
Followup-To: alt.sources.d
Organization: North Coast Public Access UN*X, Cleveland, OH
Lines: 21

A lot of people seem to be missing the point again.  Perl is a tool for
constructing complex tools.  I spent yesterday at work writing a Perl script
which converts data from a database into an "lp" configuration -- which
requires a fairly complex manipulation of various entities (files, output of
programs, etc.)  The script is about 150 lines long and would *not* be fun to
write as a shell script using e.g. sed or (n)awk.  On the other hand, I do
write little filters fairly often -- and rarely use Perl for them, preferring
sed or awk.

Perl is extremely useful, but using it for everything is ridiculous.  Do you
use a screwdriver to hammer nails?  Don't get carried away with it, but use it
*when it's the appropriate tool* and you'll be rewarded by your task becoming
easier.

++Brandon
-- 
Brandon S. Allbery    allbery@NCoast.ORG, BALLBERY (MCI Mail), ALLBERY (Delphi)
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