Posted by
CowboyNeal
on from the rubbish-listers dept.
JamesD_UK writes "mod_perl 2.0.0 has been officially released into CPAN. Enhancements over mod_perl 1 include threads support and a perl interface to the Apache Portable Runtime. More details on the release can be found on CPAN."
Almost all of the comments criticizing Perl have been modded "Troll". Slashdot authors getting touchy?
Perl a dead language?
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I do not understand how anyone can suggest that PERL is a dead language. It is still one of the most powerful text processing languages out there, with the extensibility that allows it to do everything from performing network activities to CGI. Although CGI is in its decline, it is still used plenty.
Theres that and the fact that PERL is just a really fun language, very easy, and extremely free-flowing, which I personally think is a good thing.
threads support
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Out of curiosity, is this still the same threading model that's existed in Perl for some time? Or is it revamped? Because if it hasn't been updated, well, it's pretty much useless. I've done threading in perl, and every time you spawn a thread, a whole new interpreter is spawned. On top of this, there are many limitations on sharing data between threads (you can't share objects, for one thing).
It might as well be called forking, to be honest, because it doesn't really qualify as threading.
API space rename hurt
by
henry.thorpe
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I'd been happily using mod_perl2 since 1.99r12 or so. Then, right before the release of 2.0, between 2.0r3 and 2.0r5, the namespace changed http://perl.apache.org/docs/2.0/rename.html. I realize that there are good reasons for doing this (http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?t=111135037100002&r =1&w=2), but it was still pretty painful if you hadn't had some prior warning.
In particular, the FreeBSD ports tree is still feeling some pain. Guess I just got lazy with all the dependencies handled in the ports tree.
But, now we have to flash-cut our production systems, unless someone knows how to changes things to work under both namespaces...
Re:Great
by
FooBarWidget
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
Yes, me. I'm the maintainer of a project which has about 30.000 lines of Perl code. And yes, the project is maintainable and the code is very much readable. The project is still under active development.
Furthermore, Perl has a bigger chance than Python of being installed on Linux distributions by default. This alone is a good reason to choose Perl over Python. Don't get me started about Ruby.
Re:Perl a dead language? NOT
by
fanatic
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I work doing router and server admin.
The shortest path between "need" and "have" is usually a perl script. CPAN alone puts perl above anything else I know of.
-- "that's not encryption - it's a new perl script that I'm working on..." - from some Matrix parody
What defines dying?
by
malverian
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Perl still has a very active community with some very incredible and dedicated hackers. The main thing that keeps me coming back to Perl for personal projects is the fact that it's such a FUN language to program in.
I can think of many benefits to using Python and PHP in a work environment, but no matter how long I work with other languages, I always come running back to Perl when I'm in the mood for some highly caffeinated drinks and a late night of hacking. Say what you will about Python or PHP, but you probably can't say either is fun or enlightening to use.
I've found that Larry Wall is a very unique individual, and a lot of that is pervayed through the style of his programming language. In Perl I can say (figuratively).. "Go fetch the paper!" or "Can you get the paper?" and both of them work. While that might be a readability nightmare, it lets you be very creative with your code. And to some people, being creative is a nice release after the regimented, controlled environment we deal with in the workplace.
-- You're just mad because the voices in your head talk to me.
Re:Great
by
Anonymous Coward
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
Although I've switched primarily to Ruby + fastcgi, I still use mod_perl because of CPAN. As a matter of fact, I also use Python because of Trac.
While going 100% with one language or tool or OS might be ideal, it just isn't practical for many of us.
There are so many useful modules in CPAN and I don't see Ruby or Python catching up in the next 2-3 years.
Perl5 might be ugly now when compared to newer languages, but I'll always be grateful for all the time-saving CPAN modules and the inspiration the language gave to Ruby.
Is it dying? It it the end of fun?
by
rduke15
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
it's such a FUN language to program in
Exactly. But I guess that is what so many don't like. As Larry Wall said:
"In trying to make programming predictable, computer scientists have mostly succeeded in making it boring" -- Larry Wall, interview in The Perl Journal, vol. 1 issue 1.
Bah. The whitespace thing is not all that bad unless you have funky editor requirements. Editing python in a textarea is hell. Do not attempt. Otherwise, it simply doesn't even bite me, and is only occasionally annoying.
I think python's weird "half-closed" ranges, the fact that "print" is a hardwired built-in and not a first class function, its lack of real closures (they're still read-only), crippled lambda compared to sub and anonymous blocks (I'll give ruby the win there), surprising behavior like list and hash default function args always aliasing the same value... those are all real and technical reasons to hate python.
Of course I have a laundry list of hates for perl too, but anyone who uses a language long enough will garner such a list. Familiarity breeds contempt. And to be fair, python has lots of nice things. I thought list comprehensions were nice, but generator comprehensions are the bees knees.
The whitespace thing just isn't an issue. You just can't do one-liners effectively, that's all.
Slashdot Mirror
did you happen to look up at ANY slashdot URL:
/./comments.pl
hrmm... this kind of looks like a perl cgi, most likely living in mod_perl!
get a clue dumb arse.
int 20h;
Almost all of the comments criticizing Perl have been modded "Troll". Slashdot authors getting touchy?
I do not understand how anyone can suggest that PERL is a dead language. It is still one of the most powerful text processing languages out there, with the extensibility that allows it to do everything from performing network activities to CGI. Although CGI is in its decline, it is still used plenty.
Theres that and the fact that PERL is just a really fun language, very easy, and extremely free-flowing, which I personally think is a good thing.
Bah, mod_parrot is where its at.
http://www.smashing.org/mod_parrot/
I program my web application in Parrot.
Out of curiosity, is this still the same threading model that's existed in Perl for some time? Or is it revamped? Because if it hasn't been updated, well, it's pretty much useless. I've done threading in perl, and every time you spawn a thread, a whole new interpreter is spawned. On top of this, there are many limitations on sharing data between threads (you can't share objects, for one thing).
It might as well be called forking, to be honest, because it doesn't really qualify as threading.
But, now we have to flash-cut our production systems, unless someone knows how to changes things to work under both namespaces...
Yes, me. I'm the maintainer of a project which has about 30.000 lines of Perl code. And yes, the project is maintainable and the code is very much readable. The project is still under active development.
Furthermore, Perl has a bigger chance than Python of being installed on Linux distributions by default. This alone is a good reason to choose Perl over Python. Don't get me started about Ruby.
I work doing router and server admin.
The shortest path between "need" and "have" is usually a perl script. CPAN alone puts perl above anything else I know of.
"that's not encryption - it's a new perl script that I'm working on..." - from some Matrix parody
Perl still has a very active community with some very incredible and dedicated hackers. The main thing that keeps me coming back to Perl for personal projects is the fact that it's such a FUN language to program in. I can think of many benefits to using Python and PHP in a work environment, but no matter how long I work with other languages, I always come running back to Perl when I'm in the mood for some highly caffeinated drinks and a late night of hacking. Say what you will about Python or PHP, but you probably can't say either is fun or enlightening to use. I've found that Larry Wall is a very unique individual, and a lot of that is pervayed through the style of his programming language. In Perl I can say (figuratively).. "Go fetch the paper!" or "Can you get the paper?" and both of them work. While that might be a readability nightmare, it lets you be very creative with your code. And to some people, being creative is a nice release after the regimented, controlled environment we deal with in the workplace.
You're just mad because the voices in your head talk to me.
Although I've switched primarily to Ruby + fastcgi, I still use mod_perl because of CPAN. As a matter of fact, I also use Python because of Trac.
While going 100% with one language or tool or OS might be ideal, it just isn't practical for many of us.
There are so many useful modules in CPAN and I don't see Ruby or Python catching up in the next 2-3 years.
Perl5 might be ugly now when compared to newer languages, but I'll always be grateful for all the time-saving CPAN modules and the inspiration the language gave to Ruby.
Exactly. But I guess that is what so many don't like. As Larry Wall said:
I gess some prefer programming to be boring.
I don't.
Bah. The whitespace thing is not all that bad unless you have funky editor requirements. Editing python in a textarea is hell. Do not attempt. Otherwise, it simply doesn't even bite me, and is only occasionally annoying.
... those are all real and technical reasons to hate python.
I think python's weird "half-closed" ranges, the fact that "print" is a hardwired built-in and not a first class function, its lack of real closures (they're still read-only), crippled lambda compared to sub and anonymous blocks (I'll give ruby the win there), surprising behavior like list and hash default function args always aliasing the same value
Of course I have a laundry list of hates for perl too, but anyone who uses a language long enough will garner such a list. Familiarity breeds contempt. And to be fair, python has lots of nice things. I thought list comprehensions were nice, but generator comprehensions are the bees knees.
The whitespace thing just isn't an issue. You just can't do one-liners effectively, that's all.
I am no longer wasting my time with slashdot