[linux-help] Re: Perl Question

["Lars von dem Ast" <mrprenzl@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Koji and Steve for the input. I know what you're saying about
languages. I looked long and hard at Python (maybe I'm still looking), but
you can't beat Perl's "duct tape" effect. Perl seems to fit into the
smallest cracks and the biggest gulfs, and the mountains of modules already
out there! Python's catching up, though. I know that CGI is just a billowing
mass of print statements, and as such adds another layer of complexity to
getting ugly ugly HTML to behave itself.

Another question: What's your take on .NET? It seems to me that if you use
XML and SOAP, you don't need to buy into the Microsoft virtual machine.

There's also Flash MX. The new Flash seems to offer everything the original
Java applet did. You can now turn a Flash embed into a full app with forms,
socket connections back to a server, the works, plus all the cool graphics
tricks. I think Java applets failed due to immaturity of the technology, not
because it was a bad concept.

Lb
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Saner" <ssaner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <linux-help@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2002 1:40 AM
Subject: [linux-help] Re: Perl Question


>
> On Sun, Nov 17, 2002 at 12:07:35AM -0600, Lars von dem Ast wrote:
> >
> > All right then, what's so great about PHP? (I don't really know anything
> > about it, but to me anything where code is embedded in HTML seems so
> > primitive. Total dynamic page generation (as done with CGI) still seems
the
> > sleekest, best way. Or am I missing something? And PHP is yet another
> > language to learn! With Java and Perl Web stuff you've got languages
that
> > can be used in other non-Web situations, too. Does PHP have a
stand-alone
> > language? Plus how do you scale with PHP or anything that is strictly
> > embedded code in HTML? (I'm being curious, not offensive here.)
>
> Well, each to his own, of course, but CGI really is the more
> primitive. The thing with CGI is that you have to create each dynamic
> web page, in its entirety programatically. This can get kind of
> difficult after a while. It also does not lend itself very well to a
> situation where you have some people who are good at web design (look
> and feel) and some people who are good at programming. If a web
> designer comes up with some HTML and gives it to you, you then have to
> convert all of that HTML into print statements for your CGI, that can
> be difficult. And in my opinion the result isn't very sleek, because
> the code doesn't hardly look like HTML anymore.
>
> The a templating concept, such as PHP, you start with HTML, which is
> really what you want when it is all said and done anyway. You then
> insert code into the places that need to have dynamic content. Also,
> with something like PHP a single page can be generated from multiple
> files, so you can separate constant elements (like a header and
> footer) from dynamic elements (like a table build from data in a
> database) and glue them all together.
>
> That said, I don't really like PHP either. In part because it is, as
> you say, another language to learn. Also, since I am a perl
> programmer, I have a lot of libraries and stuff in perl that I want to
> use and it is difficult to do that within PHP. There are other options
> than PHP, and one that I like very much is Mason (www.masonhq.com).
> Mason is a templating system, much like PHP, but it is perl. This
> means that the code that is embedded in HTML is plain old perl. Also,
> I can use any perl library that I have written, or from CPAN and embed
> it into HTML. It also runs under mod_perl with the Apache web server,
> so performance is much better than the old standard CGI. There is a
> new OReilly book on Mason that a couple of the core members of the
> development team wrote, if you are interested. I do virtually all of
> my web development based on Mason now.
>
> Steve
>
> --
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Steven Saner <ssaner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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