Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!decwrl!eda.com!jim From: jim@eda.com (Jim Budler) Newsgroups: alt.sources.d Subject: Re: promoting Perl (was Re: uutraffic report (in perl)) Message-ID: <1989Nov28.064349.1421@eda.com> Date: 28 Nov 89 06:43:49 GMT References: <4025@mhres.mh.nl> <1194@radius.UUCP> <3273@convex.UUCP> <5261@omepd.UUCP> <1126@cirrusl.UUCP> Organization: EDA Systems,Inc. Santa Clara, CA Lines: 51 dhesi%cirrusl@oliveb.ATC.olivetti.com (Rahul Dhesi) writes: } Here's why I didn't install Perl when it first appeared on Usenet: The } volume of patches. I like software that is stable, and Perl didn't } seem to be. It's too painful to keep updating a program. It's nicer } to have all the bugs fixed before you install the program. That stage } never seemd to arrive for Perl. That stage has never arrived with netnews either 8^) } Now with the recent Perl posting, I again see patches appearing almost } simultaneously. I can't actually disagree with you, however, perl won me over with ONE simple example: % find -exec < most any command> \; versus % find -print | perl -ne 'equiv_command;' The performance improvement was HUGE! I installed perl at a relatively stable point (2.04) and then monitored the performance of patches against my installed scripts. My next installation was 3.0p4, because I saw no gain before that, and 3.0a thru 3.0p2 didn't work with my installed scripts. At 3.0p4 my installed scripts only required a variable name change, due to a new builtin. I am not a front running perl hacker by any means. I found enough value in version 2 to install it, and felt that when 3.0 reached a certain point it was worth going with the current version. } Comments are welcome. } Rahul Dhesi } UUCP: oliveb!cirrusl!dhesi Just my network cleanup, cron based 'find' commands alone made my initial investment payoff in real (not CPU) time. Our file server didn't always get done with a midnight start 'core' hunt before people came in in the morning. With perl it does, easily. I wish I had more time to explore perl. I'm looking forward to the book. jim -- Jim Budler jim@eda.com ...!{decwrl,uunet}!eda!jim compuserve: 72415,1200 applelink: D4619 voice: +1 408 986-9585 fax: +1 408 748-1032 Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com