Python or Perl?

[monochromatic]

Mods: it'd be awesome if this was a poll. Well, I guess it doesn't have to. Your call.

Hey,

As you all may know, I've been trying to learn lua since January thus year. Lua is a light and very small language, so I think I've grasped the basics and have begun to understand some of the more complex things in Lua. So I kind of want look at another language while I continue studying lua. C++, python, and perl come to mind. C++ is probably too hard for me now, so I think I'll do either python or perl. And so you know my coding background, it's not much. Other than, I've only learned markup languages.

So, which one do you think is more worth learning? Your opinions please.

[Gambit]

Touchy topic is touchy. The choice is entirely personal opinion. Neither one truly has any advantages over the other. They just do things differently.
This community is awesome, so I normally don't need to say this, but please, let's keep this civil.

[thespaceinvader]

I like pythons, because they hiss. Perls are boring because I don't like knitwear. But I fail to see the comparison.

*whisperwhisperwhisper*

What do you mean 'programming language'?!

[monochromatic]

Touchy topic is touchy. The choice is entirely personal opinion. Neither one truly has any advantages over the other. They just do things differently.

Then let's keep it at this question: what things are each one good at?

This community is awesome, so I normally don't need to say this, but please, let's keep this civil.

Yes please.

I like pythons, because they hiss. Perls are boring because I don't like knitwear. But I fail to see the comparison.

Then what the heck is C? Seems awfully boring to me. Let's all go get rubies!

[Gambit]

Then let's keep it at this question: what things are each one good at?

They're both pretty much equally good at the same things (everything). They're both generally the same speed too.

It really comes down to which syntax you prefer.

perl:

Code: Select all

if (1) {
  print "Hello world";
}
else {
  print "NOT POSSIBLE!";
}

python:

Code: Select all

if 1 == 1:
    print "Hello world"
else:
    print "NOT POSSIBLE!"

[monochromatic]

Then let's keep it at this question: what things are each one good at?

They're both pretty much equally good at the same things (everything). They're both generally the same speed too.

It really comes down to which syntax you prefer.

perl:

Code: Select all

if (1) {
  print "Hello world";
}
else {
  print "NOT POSSIBLE!";
}

python:

Code: Select all

if 1 == 1:
    print "Hello world"
else:
    print "NOT POSSIBLE!"

I see. From my inexperienced eye, python resembles lua alot in terms of syntax.

Code: Select all

if 1 == 1 then
    print("Hello world")
else
    print("NOT POSSIBLE!")
end

It can be condensed, but I'm just writing it like that to show the similarity.

[Crendgrim]

Python is a language that forces you to indent your code correctly. However, it's been a long time since I last used Python; and I never used Perl seriously, so I can't really give some advice.
Personally, I don't like Perl's syntax very much, but I know many people who love it.


Crend

[Elvish_Hunter]

Let's all go get rubies!

Did you knew that there is a programming language called Ruby? In some aspects, its syntax is even more similar (IMO) to Lua than Python - it uses also the nil values... On the other hand, it seems to have less libraries available than Python and Perl.
Just to know, do you plan to make GUI programming in future? If yes, you may be interested in knowing that (for what I know) usually you can choose between four graphical libraries: Tk, Gtk, Qt and Wx. All of them are available for several languages: Python, Perl, Ruby, Lua, C++ and others. Just a note for the future.

[Joram]

Python is obviously the better language, on authority of Yoda

[MCP]

Very funny link there Joram.

6 months and any code is tough already.

[ancestral]

Perl syntax is short, sweet and poetic.

[uncleshelby]

I love python. I used to do some Perl, but it got complicated, so I tried Python. And python has helped me out SO MUCH. I'm thinking about trying Perl again now...

[Maiklas3000]

Perl is a nasty, evil language, great for quickly whipping up data manipulation utilities. However, you won't learn good coding style, which is what you need if you're a relative novice.

[Gambit]

I'm not sure if style == syntax, but in regards of the latter Perl is more similar to C++ and C than Python is. As far as nasty, and evil… eh.

[dipseydoodle]

The way I see it is this:

They're both scripting languages but, I see python as a more traditional language (like java, ruby etc...). Perl seems to me to be more simplistic and easier to understand.