This page is about
PythonLanguage and
PerlLanguage, but it is not
PythonVsPerl (see
ComparingNotPissing).
Both languages have a lot of character, and they prefer that the programmer work with the flow of the language.
It sometimes seems like Perl is an analogue to driftwood: organic and interesting and engaging the whole personality of the artist. Python is more like carbon-fibre-composite: slick and perhaps more appropriate for big high-tech jobs, but also very beautiful in a way.
AllAnalogiesAreFalse.
In some ways, Python has a lot of the benefits of the Smalltalk philosophy: cleanliness and simplicity. Conflicts between simplicity and the
RightThing, are resolved in favour of simplicity. (Contrast this with Perl, C++,
VisualBasic and the
EiffelLanguage. The length of
ObjectOrientedSoftwareConstruction at over a thousand pages illustrates what can happen when you scrupulously try to do the
RightThing.)
Some generalisations:
For a comparision page, this sure seems to have a bias. Complaints about Perl's cleanliness can be dealt with by a small application of discipline and/or (failing that)
PerlTidy.
Why choose, when you can have both? See
http://www.zope.org//Wikis/zope-perl/FAQ for "pyperl", which embeds Perl in Python (Zope support is optional). (Still in beta state as of September 2000.)
CategoryProgrammingLanguageComparisons