Re: [Hampshire] Why I like Perl

Hugo, you're absolutely right!

Forgive me if this begins to sound like a bit of a rant, but I get a bit
cross when people start talking about any programming language as being
difficult to read or maintain. EVERY language I have encountered, in over
forty years of programming, can be written in a way which makes it
reasonably easy for a competent programmer to read or maintain. (Even APL!)
The fact that so many programmers seem to be unable (or too lazy?) to do so
has nothing whatsoever to do with the language.

I use Perl, and find it extraordinarily useful, but I confess that I derive
most delight in writing APL one-liners and then honing them to routines
which work wonderfully but are impenetrable to most people. However, I would
never think of releasing them into the wild in that form. Indeed, I have
sometimes de-constructed functions and added copious notes to aid
comprehension when it has become necessary to do so.

These discussions degenerate too often into doctrinal wars, when the true
culprits are those who fail, for whatever reason, to express themselves
clearly.

Chris.


> On the other hand, as one of the maintainers of a 130k-line perl
> webapp, I can confirm that it *can* be written to be (mostly)
> readable, maintainable, and sensible.
>
> Hugo.
>
>