From: "ESChamp" <esch...@gmail.com>
Which perl should I (an occaisonal perl user, a rare perl programmer)
use? I see
cygwin
strawberry perl
activestate perl
dwim perl
???
Thanks.
It depends on your preferences and on what you need to do with it.
Perl has a Unix origin so almost all Perl users use it on a Unix like OS.
For this reason, most of them will recommend you Strawberry Perl because
this distribution promotes that it works under Windows just under Unix, so
it is easier for them.
Cigwin Perl is complicated to use under Windows, so it is not recommended. I
don't know how well it is updated when a new version appears.
StrawberryPerl works fine under Windows and you can install Perl modules
like under Unix, using the commands cpan, cpanm or cpanp.
It is not the best if you need to create Windows executables though.
It is not good at all if you need to create Windows services or COM servers
in Perl with it because it can't do that.
ActivePerl offers more features and you can install Perl modules using cpan,
cpanm or cpanp and it also installs a C compiler if you don't already have
one, so you can install Perl modules that contain C code also.
A faster alternative to install Perl modules offered by ActivePerl is to use
the command ppm with or without a graphical interface. It will install the
modules which are already compiled and tested but not all modules from CPAN
can be installed this way. For the others you need to use cpanm or cpan...
The advantage of beeing able to install using ppm is that sometimes the
tests give errors when installing with cpanm or cpan under any Perl
distribution, but it may be because the tests are bad, not because the
module doesn't work under Windows.
ActivePerl also offers the possibility of using the commercial programs from
ActiveState PDK which allows you to create Windows executables with perlapp,
create Windows services or COM servers + other features.
Perlapp is usually a better solution for creating Windows executables than
other solutions like the free module PAR.
There is also CitrusPerl distribution that can be used under Windows, Mac
and Linux.
It is very good if you need to create applications with a graphical
interface made with WxPerl because it has this module installed.
Otherwise... there is not much difference among all these Perl distributions
(with the exception of CygwinPerl).
Under all of them can be installed the program cpanm which is very good for
installing Perl modules, all of them can install modules that contain C
code, some of them have some modules installed by default and others have
other modules, but you can install the modules you need any time.
You may prefer one or another if you will need a certain module which is
installed by default in a certain distribution but not in others and if you
have problems installing that module under those other distributions.
So... there are more ways to do it. :-)
Octavian
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