>> I'm sorry this is OT but I really value the opinion of many people >> subscribed to this list. >> >> I'm starting a new project that is quite straightforward and will >> interface with an old project. The only point of contact between the >> two projects might be both of them having access to the same database >> table. The old project is written in a language that is related to >> perl so I can imagine there would be some benefit to using perl for >> the new project. Am I foolish to start a new project in perl at this >> stage in its lifecycle? I won't be doing the coding myself and I >> wonder if I would be better off with PHP since more coders seem to be >> familiar with PHP than perl. > > In '99 I worked with a fellow who styled himself a software > architect. The first step of each project he managed involved stating "We > will write this software in Java." As you can imagine that's sorta > backwards. I'd spec the software function, features, etc and then decide > which language has better tools or command of the problem space. You will > have to balance that against your knowledge of the language and the > developer skills you have access to. However even the exercise of deciding > "Python appears to be the superior language in this problem space, but we're > going to go with Perl because the database module for our db already exists > and is much more mature. Bob knows Perl better too." is worth doing because > it helps define the scope of the project. > FWIW the current startup I'm at is using Ruby for the front end and > it's been a bit more work that PHP which is what the last company used. > That's partly Rails immaturity, our lack of experience with Ruby, and having > to learn the Rails/Ruby way. Unless the language you're familiar with is > completely unsuitable, I'd say familiarity trumps language features. YMMV. > > kashani
Thanks to everyone. I really love this list (and this distro). I'll stick with perl. - Grant
