it can be used to create OO programs using classes/inheritance and all that OO jazz. but there is also nothing stopping you to write programs in a "procedural" way, such as what you do in scripting. Python can be used to do a lot things besides the ones you mentioned. however, as a beginner language, its still better than Perl. The benefits are apparent especially when OP reaches the level when he needs to learn OO. Perl OO is, ermm, well.....


at least you are not in denial. its commendable

its not "may inherently". Its "definitely".

I have a 2000+ line perl script to manage gzipping and sending 18 virtual disks for 4 virtual machines to 6 different staging servers...all which have to be in different directory locations. It's all menu based using ANSI color modules, and generally pretty easy to use. But it sucks to the person who gets to maintain it after I'm gone. Such questions like, why are there 10 hashes all with the same key?, and why the **** is he using xor operators on these variables? I have comments where I can but still it's got to be quite daunting to figure out what was going through my mind at the time, especially if I'm not around to answer questions. It's one of those scripts that had to be done, and I just got so engrossed in it. But deep in development I had to think...hmm is this the situation where all of the python programmers are bragging that it's better for?

But to knock on python, indenting is the not way to indicate the next flow of logic...perl has 1UP on python in that regard

--Shaun

Am confused now, after reading the responses i felt i will go for Python...Ruby???? am hearing it for the first time wot should i do???

The problem i want to solve is to validate a XML file for its syntax..so which language do you suggest.

Go for python.

indenting is a good habit, no matter which language. difference is, some (those who just beginning for example) don't indent whatsoever. Python just enforce that good habit, that's all.

Python + lxml. One example here. Search yourself on the internet for more.

forget about Ruby for a while (they are both similar, but Python is more "established"). Just go with Python. After that, you can play with Ruby all you like.

Thank you all going ahead with Python...

How about PHP? Check this out: http://php.net/manual/en/book.xmlreader.php
I found PHP easier to catch up than Python!

Go for python

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No love for perl in this tread

Indenting need not be a syntax error. This reminds me of my mainframe days with cobol, where every line had to start at a specific column. Yay for punch card emulation.

For new programmers, teachers and tutorials should emphasize code style early on. It's not the language's responsibility to teach people correct form. It's the responsibility of those who have learned what to do and not to do to teach those what to do.

My environment may be different than a lot of people's because everything we do is ad-hoc and ultra fast paced. Sometimes I may only get 30 seconds here and there to try to code something before I get interrupted. So If I write a block a code, it has to work. I may not get a chance to fix it unless it breaks in production. I have to live by the motto: "Fire, forget and hope the hell nothing breaks". Not saying that it's the way it should be...but it is what it is. So the the more free-form the language is, the better chance I have of getting a script working in the very limited time I have.

I'm not so much knocking python (except for the indenting thing ), more of justifying the use case for perl. python has advantages, which have been basically summarized earlier is this tread. Each language has it's niche and purpose. Perl is part of what has kept me employed the last 4 years, and I have crafted some really cool, life saving, and amazing scripts with it.

The important thing though is that ajeesh.tr (original poster) was able to have his question answered. The overwhelming response is that python is the way to go. But there may be someone down the line who sees this thread several years later, and their use-case happens to be similar to what I have posted about. I have had several incidents where a post from lets say 2003 made the difference between a go or no-go decision on whether to convert 7000 servers or stop it completely.

If people can benefit from this thread, whether it be now or many years down the line, that's my goal. I hope that the next person asking about perl vs python can help make their decision based upon the information in this tread.

--Shaun

1 members found this post helpful.

sure, you can teach and tell people to indent, but still , some people don't. Or some does it another way , or some indents too much , or blah blah various other reasons. It is always a bonus if the language enforces such rules, there will not be any ambiguities.

the more free form you have, the more chances of people who are not used to those forms to get confused by your code.

Both Perl and Python have their advantages , that's true i agree. However, Python's advantages outweigh Perl's

I am sure those can be crafted with Python, with much easier to read code, both for yourself and your successors

The answer is always going to be the same ( which one is a better beginner language) , Python.

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perl - if you like speed and efficiency.

if you can't read perl code, try VB.

Huh ? I.e. don't reinvent the wheel.

Take any standards compliant XML parser and run your XML file through it.

Of course, Perl has XML parsers, and some of them are based on fast "C"-based parser. Try http://search.cpan.org/search?query=XML+parser&mode=all .