This is pretty interesting, and shows the ignorance (and/or bias) of
perople when it comes to programming languages.
The "C++ application reviewer" sounds like a Grad student with something
against "scripting languages" :-)
> application reviewer and received this input:
> "i have to agree with will's assessment. perl is not a high level
> language. it amounts to a scripting language.
the reviewer is making a distinction here, one that doesn't make sense.
he (i'm guessing it's a guy) probably has this equation unning in his
head:
compiled language = high level, able to create complex data structures,
system programming, etc etc
interpreted language = not high level, toy, good for combining commands
and doing mundane repetitive tasks, etc etc etc
> simply having 2 years of
> working with perl says nothing about whether he has worked on more complex
> problems
true, but the same could be said of any programming language. I can state
that I understand the syntax of Ruby very well, but that says nothing of
my experience with "more complex" problems in this language.
> or has developed the
> programming skills necessary to understand
> and solve such problems from ground up.
the reviewer's mental image of a "complex problem" here is probably a
classic programming excersise like implementing linked lists, AVL tress,
sets, graphs, and their related algorithms. it sounds like you'll have to
go into more detail than just state "2 years with perl". better yet, show
them your AVL implementation in perl!
> in addition, does he have - in any
> language - the understanding of more advanced data structures...with 2
> years of serious cobol for example should bring familiarity with files,
> records, and other such data types."
again you could say this about any language. he's looking for more
detail. show hime some code that creates an in-menory database with
hashes and arrays. or explain to them that you know internally how hash
tables work in perl (and thus don't ever have to worry about them!!!)
> Can someone please help me explain to these people that writing Perl for 2
> years says about as much of my ability to program and understand "advanced
> data structures" and having worked on "more complex problems" as spending
> those 2 years with C.
just remember, stating that you have experience programming in perl for 2
years says nothing of what you have been programming. for all they know
you've been doing nothing but obfuscated one-line JAPHs :-)
> Am I wrong? I know that if I describe to them the
> OOP in Perl that I've done as well as all the work I've done with files and
> records with data extraction (binary and ascii) that they would
> understand.
this is exactly what you'll have to do.
> But is it just me or do these people not know anything about Perl?
they probably have a bias against interpreted languages - many people do,
for no good reason. then they stick with C and have to fix segfaults all
day due to allocation errors - shrug.
Luke
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