Perl outreach

[Edmund von der Burg]

On 27 November 2012 12:33, David Cantrell <david at cantrell.org.uk> wrote:
> I'll learn a new language if:
>   * my needs change and my current language of choice doesn't do what I
>     need; or

Yup.

So I used to do Perl because that's what I was hired to do, and
Catalyst is great.

Then a project needed to get started fast and an admin interface, so I
learnt Django and hence Python.

Then another project comes along that needs a really flexible data
model - so MongoDB it is. I wanted an abstraction so I chose
MongooseJs, so chose Node.js, so chose JavaScript.

Almost certainly I'll work on a project that calls for RoR and hence Ruby.

Note that in all of the above the language was not a driving factor,
but the tools or existing circumstances. I regard myself as fairly bad
at language details, but pretty good at code structure. This
transposes well.


Now having worked with lots of languages, and switching between the
often, mean that I have some interesting view points, and lets me
bring more to the table when talking about code. I'm a developer, not
a Perl developer.

>   * I suddenly have a lot of spare time

As if that's going to happen anytime soon :)

Cheers,
  Edmund.

PS which is my favourite? Certainly not Python, I find that stifling
and annoying. Perl is great for getting things done, but I'm now a
Node fan boy. The asynchronous approach tickles me. And npm is
GLORIOUS. Does this mean that others will like Node - not at all. Try
'em all!

PPS yes - I'm very lucky that I work somewhere that uses lots of
different stacks and so had the freedom to do the above.