Worth learning Perl?

[tay]

Whenever I project manage a development project now, I always fear its going to involve *nix ... as this invariably means I am dealing with anarak (or more scarily full length matrix style leather coats) wearers, who spend ages faffing about and protesting about obscure and pointless issues just to make themselves seem important. Dealing with the average microsoft devloper is far easier, as they are just chancers who care more about getting paid and going home than the finer points of techinical crafting... but least you can actually talk to them and make sense of things... kind of.

[VectraMan]

Dealing with the average microsoft devloper is far easier, as they are just chancers who care more about getting paid and going home than the finer points of techinical crafting

You called?

My limited experience suggests that things aren't really any better in the Linux world, just that people want to love Linux and want to hate Windows. Doesn't make it true.

[swamp]

Jobserve count:

Python: 51
Perl: 202

I'm amazed Perl is still used. I know it very well, and I know how diabolical it is to maintain!

Python and Ruby are probably the way to go long term; Perl will *eventually* die a death. And every decent developer should know a scripting language.

[barry_abs]

Whenever I project manage a development project now, I always fear its going to involve *nix ... as this invariably means I am dealing with anarak (or more scarily full length matrix style leather coats) wearers, who spend ages faffing about and protesting about obscure and pointless issues just to make themselves seem important. Dealing with the average microsoft devloper is far easier, as they are just chancers who care more about getting paid and going home than the finer points of techinical crafting... but least you can actually talk to them and make sense of things... kind of.

i 100% agree.. most linux contractors i've met have been guilty of this, prattling on about their techs with a smug glow of superiority.. this breed of p0erson is weak, feeling the need to prove a point.. the .NET contractors i've worked with are generally a more down-to-earth bunch..

the 3/4 length leather trench image always tickles me (what is it with that class of future-goth that feels a spikey or puppy-dog, novelty backsack also looks good? and those enormous, metal clad boots and shin pads)

regarding Redhat support, i've only used them for hardware issues (is model X disk array supported etc.).. once a system is up and running, it's hardly ever touched again.. maybe just a new processer or disk added.. yes, updates are released often but if you know what you're doing you would never install/update stuff which breaks the current system..

[r0bly0ns]

regarding Redhat support, i've only used them for hardware issues (is model X disk array supported etc.).. once a system is up and running, it's hardly ever touched again.. maybe just a new processer or disk added.. yes, updates are released often but if you know what you're doing you would never install/update stuff which breaks the current system..

Absolutely right.

But you may be instructed to by your manager (Was a permie at the time)

I was just pointing out that Linux does get upgrades and service packs, whereas a previous poster had indicated it doesn't

[adulion]

ruby is the way forward, features derived from both python and perl but a lot quicker to write than perl/python.