On Sat, May 04, 2002 at 07:54:27AM -0700, drieux wrote: > On Saturday, May 4, 2002, at 02:26 , Greg Willings wrote: > > >Hi, > >I'm a beginner that doesn't even have perl yet. > >I woul like to know whether Perl is faster or Java for business > >applications. > > Paul has already provided the correct Party Line from the > typical Perl Advocate.
I wasn't aware there was a Party Line, nor that I was a typical Perl Advocate, but since I agree with what I say, and I am happy with my advocacy, or lack thereof, then I have no cause for argument :-) On Sat, May 04, 2002 at 01:11:53PM +0200, Krikor Hovelian wrote: > Hi Paul, > Actually I'm C programmer and would like to change towards something more > portable or cross platform without the hustle of recompile or database > adaptation, that's why i'm looking arround. > Faster... Faster to run Might I suggest that you are asking the wrong question? The question is not whether language X is faster than language Y. The question is whether language X, which is otherwise suitable, is fast _enough_. Otherwise we would all be programming in assembler, or creating ASICs. The other argument along these lines is that it is the algorithm rather than the language which makes the most difference. If you can program in a language in which you can develop quickly then you will have more time for profiling and algorithm enhancement should your initial efforts prove too slow. And in Perl, at least, you can always drop down to C or hand crafted assembler, should you really need to for some time critical part of your design. Of course, with Inline you can drop down to a number of other languages for whatever reason. Even to Java :-) > Developed by experts, when I say this I'm an optimiser programmer. I think > when I decide which (Java or Perl), I'll soon be an expert. That may well be the case, but depending on your background and your disposition you will probably prefer one language over the other. If you have never used OO, you may find Perl easier to start with. If you have, and particularly if you have used C++ (as opposed to using a C++ compiler) then you may find Java easier to start with. Java is not a particularly large language. Bigger than C, certainly, but I think that really learning the libraries would take most of the effort. Perl, on the other hand, is quite a large language, though it is officially OK to program in a subset of it. Becoming proficient in Perl, and certainly becoming expert in it is quite a task, and it will frequently involve a change in the way you think about programming. I think this is why opinions concerning Perl tend to be polarised and often strongly held. Of course some people never seem to be able to get beyond the sigils, or like to think that Perl forces or encourages the type of programming that can be found in numerous CGI scripts, but once you really start learning it you will probably find that you really like it, or really don't like it. > From your reply I recon that you are an expert. A few more questions: I don't know about that, but I am fairly experienced in some areas. See the next two replies :-) > Is Perl a safe Large Database manager or can it be? I've not messed about with real databases much, but I've never heard about Perl being incapable in this area. You'll want to investigate the DBI which is one of the larger and more mature Perl modules. http://dbi.perl.org > Can Perl manage window controls or can we create as we please? I'm not quite sure what to make of this question. I'm assuming window controls are the same as window decorations on Win32 and/or Mac systems. If so, then I think these can be managed using familiar interfaces on those systems, but you would have to consult the appropriate documentation to be sure. How's my advocacy now? Am I still toeing the party line? :-) -- Paul Johnson - [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pjcj.net -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
