Oh I love this argument...you want to do GUI so use python because it has PyGTK but if you only want small GUI apps you could do these with Perl/Tk. You don't use Perl much, do you? If you did you'd know that Perl is every bit as good for GUIs as Python is. IN fact GTK has bindings for pretty much every language available...and that INCLUDES Perl. If you want to write programs in a powerful, multi-purpose scripting language with GUI support then use Perl. Anything you can do in Python you can do in perl and more. If you want to do a GUI use PerlGTK or Perl/Tk or wxPerl...the list goes on.

Komakino wrote:
Oh I love this argument...you want to do GUI so use python because it has PyGTK but if you only want small GUI apps you could do these with Perl/Tk.

Whoa. Hey there. Hey now. How are ya. Slow down. :) Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear enough.

Read that line I posted one more time:

Now, if you're more the sysadmin type, Perl is probably what you want. You can always do small gui apps with Perl/Tk.

To elaborate, what I was getting at was:

If you're the sysadmin type, you might have more use for Perl than Python -- and further, as a sysadmin, you probably won't be writing large pieces of software, but rather many smaller Perl scripts here and there, so go ahead and use Perl (maybe Perl/Tk) for any GUI programs you might happen to need. I wrote "small programs" because sysadmins generally spend more time on other things besides writing large pieces of software.

If you're just interested in application programming, my guess is that Python will serve you better than Perl, though obviously opinions differ -- and I've been known to be wrong before. :)

What no mention of Scheme ??? *gasp. Grabs for bottle of Nitro tabs*

For util & admin type scripts I'd suggest Perl.

For Applications go with Python & wxPython ( Fun and has a nice Lispy feel).Better yet do what I do and code your core modules in C or Assembly & use wxPython for a GUI wrapper.

Well so much for my 2 cents.


_h

don't forget
Tcl.

lovely little language, simple and dead powerful.

Well, if you already know java and C, then why not learn PHP? Its syntax resembles C 99% of the time, so It should be very easy to pick up.

I"ve used php some. I'm not sure its sytax resembles C though. Is php usefull for anything other than web?

Where does this idea come from that if you want a GUI app in a scripting language use python? There is nothing python can do that Perl cannot whereas the opposite cannot be said to be true. Plus python's loops are HIDEOUS.

I can see your point in the argument about "if you're a sysadmin, learn Perl" but why not learn it anyway? There's little point in learning python to write GUI apps only oneday to discover you need something more powerful for when you could kill both birds with one stone by learning perl which can accomplish all goals.

And no, I see no point in PHP, it is too limited.

Define limited, besides the fact it cannot do GUIs.

Where does this idea come from that if you want a GUI app in a scripting language use python?

Here's a good read:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=3882

It's limited to webpages.

PHP scripts can be run from the commandline.
I wrote a port scanner, and brute force cracker
using php on my machine and apache isnt even
installed. So no, its not just limited to web pages.

btw, here's an tutorial on PHP's command line interface.
http://www.phpfreaks.com/tutorials/86/0.php

I stand corrected.

But I still can't see it doing anything Perl cannot

Youre right,
perl can do alot more than php can do since it can use pluggable modules.

And Perl can't do anything my Turing Machine can't

Alex