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Perlbox: A Unix Desktop Written in Perl
cascadefx writes "It appears that this programmer has created an Open Sourced Unix Desktop, PerlBox, written in Perl and Tk. I found this posted in response to an article on Perl Monks asking if Perl was obsessed with CGI?. Apparently not. Check it out, it looks pretty interesting." I wonder how fast it runs?
I'd be very curious as to how fast that desktop ran, as well. Don't Perl scripts get compiled every time they are run?
Anything else would have looked better. Tk just doesn't have that polished look that everyone knows and loves.
Because we can?
I'd like to see distributing timesharing, so that all these people with *way* too much time on their hands could donate some to us people with sensible projects to complete but not enough time.
gosh, i'm tired of hearing this.
if you develop some actual coding discipline, you can write very maintanable code in perl. use generous ammounts of whitespace, develop style rules for yourself and stick to them religiously, use descriptive full word variable names, separate compound statements into easier to understand (and easier to insert stuff between) smaller ones and of course take advantage of perl's '-w' and 'use strict' features. and if you think something still isn't clear, then for pete's sake comment it! don't blame poor coding practices on the language itself. you can just as easily write nasty unreadable code in c.
At work my Perl code is more readable than the C++ code of most C++ coders there.
Just comment, indent, etc.
As rizzo5 said - use strict and -w, it'll make everything easier.
Of course Perl can get really obfuscated, but have you ever seen obfuscated C???
Anyway, we were talking about a Perl desktop a few days ago at work, and I wish all the best to this project (though, I prefer wxPerl over TK).
-- PG2
> if you develop some actual coding discipline, you can write very maintanable code in perl.
The problem with Perl is that from the very first moment it was pushed as the "there's more than one way to do it" language, and that's *WRONG* (very big IMNSHO here, of course) because it leads to confusion.
You could easily write mantainable code in Perl, but what about other coders? Could you take a job that requires Perl code (written by others) maintenance and be sure that you won't have problems?
Ok, I agree about other languages obfuscation (say C and C++), but if it was for me I'd choose a more self documenting language. In the "scripting" arena today I really like Ruby: powerful as Perl and Python, but much easier to learn (and read!).
Perl would kick Java's ass as a cross-platform app development language if it did
Seems a bit trollish, but I'll bite. If I wanted to make a large maintainable and updatable cross-platform app, with lots of time I'd choose Java. If I needed a cross-platform app that needed to be up in little time, and was never gonna be changed, I might chose your PERL with GUI Abstraction.
Honestly, though, I don't think it would "kick java's ass", its like compairing C and C++. Is one better than the other? Depends on how you use it!
A quick and powerful scripting language versus a high level object oriented language?
Apples and Oranges.
Surprisingly, though, they appear to be competing. Parrot, perls next version, contains error handling similar to Java, and Java1.4 added regexp.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
It does have it already, check CPAN.
Perl would kick Java's ass as a cross-platform app development language if it did.
No it would not. Perl doesn't even have proper multithreading, how can you pretend that it can compete with Java?
Each tool has it's use. Perl is great for text-processing, but is a toy for most of other uses (and is a damn fun toy, btw). Java is great for boring and usefull stuff like enterprise programming.
A message from the system administrator: 'I've upped my priority. Now up yours.'
I wasn't refering to the language itself (or how clean the code is) but the OO of Java vs. the scripting of Perl. Sure, there is OO in perl, but its slapped on and unelegant.
I disagree. I think perl has very powerfull OO capabilities. You pretty much disregard these features, and you compare two conflicting aspects.
most coders I know would find a well written, large scale, high level OO application easier to maintain and update than a large scale, powerful scripted application.
A high level OO application can apply to both perl and Java. Java's OO is not equal to Perls scripting nature. OO != compiled code.
You sound full of bias and purposefull misrepresentation.
Perhaps something like, "Most coders I know like Java better than Perl", is what you are trying to say?