🚀 go-pugleaf

In comp.lang.perl.misc, rust@Virginia.EDU writes:
:I fell in love with Perl a couple of years ago, until I learned
:Python, which can do everything Perl can, and has the advantage of
:being readable.  

So many false assumptions in such short text.

First of all, any language can do anything any other language can do --
it's just a ``simple matter of programming''.  Some things are better
supported in the language or libraries than others, but the determined
programmer can bend any language to his will.  That being said, Perl's
string-processing facilities make Python's seem like mere ed-compatible
patterns.  [Examples available upon request.]  Sure, you could eventually
write the same in any language, but it would take so much more work that
it would seldom be worth it.

Second of all, the legibility thing is a red herring.  If I showed someone
the obfuscated C programming contest entries -- or even some freshman
college students muddled attempts at C programs -- they would likely decry
C as inherently illegible.  That's silly.  A bad programmer (or a sneaky
one) can always write programs that are hard to read, and a good
programmer can always write ones easy to read.  The implementation
language here is largely irrelevant.  If you don't write perlstyle(1)
compliant Perl code, it's not the language's fault that you have bad
taste.

As for whether a language should be understandable to programmers not 
even passingly conversant in that language, that's a theoretical matter
upon which the jury is yet to return.  I tend to prefer to see professional
tools tailored for professional use.  It's easy to make a system that 
people with no training to use -- but very hard to make it so that experts
also feel comfortable with.  Remember: user-friendly is a politically 
correct term for user-obsequious, or sometimes even expert-hostile.
If you're merely going to claim that Python or Java are more readable due
to weak string-handling, I don't see that as particularly advantageous.

--tom
-- 
Tom Christiansen      Perl Consultant, Gamer, Hiker      tchrist@mox.perl.com
    "Text processing has made it possible to right-justify any idea, even
    one which cannot be justified on any other grounds."
		    --J. Finnegan, USC.