On Thu, 24 Jul 2014 20:35:01 -0400 Jerry Stuckle <jstuc...@attglobal.net> wrote:
> On 7/24/2014 12:30 PM, pe...@easthope.ca wrote: > > From: Jerry Stuckle <jstuc...@attglobal.net> > > Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 12:20:37 -0400 > > For the text manipulations, can you recommend AWK, Perl, sed or > > another? > > > > Thanks, ... Peter E. > > > > > > My recommendation would be whatever you're most familiar with. Almost > any language (except maybe ALGOL) can do text manipulation. But I > wouldn't recommend learning an entirely new language just to do one > job. > > Of course, if you're not a programmer, you might want to enlist the > help of a friend who could help you. Cheaper than hiring a > consultant ) > > Jerry I'm replying only to Peter's question and Jerry's answer, with no regard to converting HTML5 to .png... What Jerry said. Use what you know. If you're not a programmer, I'd recommend you learn Python, for the following reasons: 1) Most readable language on the planet. 2) With its wonderful library of addons, you can finish any project you start. 3) Widely used. A Pythoner has a good chance of getting a job with it. An employer stands a good chance of finding a good Python programmer. If necessary, you can find people to maintain (hopefully well written) Python you've made. 4) Desert island principle: If you were stranded on a desert island with only one computer language, you'd by far want it to be Python. 5) Python is very easy to learn. Excellent first language. 6) Everyone should be able to do simple programming. Without that ability, you're at the mercy of your software and OS. My recommendation is arguable. The fact is, for pure text manipulation, and especially regex, Perl's easier. But Perl's "many ways to do it" philosophy can cause you many problems in other contexts, including the fact that you might not be able to read another guy's Perl code because he does it completely different than you. Also, CPAN can be a PITA. AWK is a world-class timesaver with a built in loop, made specifically for text-processing text streams. For relatively simple text processing tasks, ten lines of AWK that you write in five minutes can often do the job. Even moderately complex text manipulation can often be done by combinations of AWK and sort in a pipeline. But at some point of complexity, when a lot of state is involved, AWK stops being practical, and you need to use a more generally capable language. Like Python. In summary, if you're not a programmer, learn Python. You'll always be glad you did. SteveT Steve Litt * http://www.troubleshooters.com/ Troubleshooting Training * Human Performance -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/20140725085058.23c58...@mydesq2.domain.cxm
