Perl outreach

[Avleen Vig]

There are a number of issues here:

1. Things like mod_php and php-fpm make it really easy and lightweight
to deploy PHP to existing systems. There are packages for every *nix
OS that contain these and they're trivial to install. I believe the
barrier to entry with perl is higher, which makes it less appealing.
Likewise, RoR is fairly easy to get going, easier than Perl I would say.

2. While perl *is* used for web stuff, it's not a language made *for*
web stuff. It's a swiss army knife. People don't see this as a
positive. I think it's partly why Python/Django haven't really taken
off. They have their place, but they won't ever made a dent in PHP or
RoR.

3. TMTOWTDI has a huge downside: consistency. Having spoken to
<counts....> 5 CTOs at big (>500 employees) companies in the last few
years about this very thing, the answer is always the same:
Perl's just too messy. We don't want TMTOWTDI, we just want one way to do it.
FWIW, these were all web companies and not my current employer.

4. It's easier to find PHP/Ruby developers than Perl developers.
Lowest common denominator approach.


On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 5:11 AM, Dave Hodgkinson <davehodg at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> What with having Copious Free Time recently, I've been attending
> a fair few start-up and online tech meetups. They all have one thing
> in common: people turn their noses up at perl. Last week at Hacker
> News Network, among a turnout of 500 people, I saw one other known
> perlmonger. At AngelHack a few weeks ago, among a similar turnout,
> I suspect I was the only person knocking up a prototype in perl.
>
> And we wonder in a sea of PHP and Rails why no-one registers perl
> as a good solution.
>
> We may have the best tools in the business but that's no help if we
> don't get out there and demonstrate our technologies.
>
> Yes, LPW was great, but where, outside our fishbowl, is perl showing
> what it can do and how easily it can do it?
>
> Does no-one else get the urge to get out there and see what mad
> problems need solving?
>
>