[Gllug] Web Site Creation

[Aaron Trevena]

On 11/3/05, Martin A. Brooks <martin at hinterlands.org> wrote:
> Stephen Harker wrote:
> > Aaron Trevena wrote:
> >> Then you really aren't much use as a sysadmin or programmer IMHO.
> >
> > Can you please elaborate as to why you think this rather than just
> > foaming. I'd be interested.

It is simply unprofessional for a start. Perl is heavily used in
enough places that the rabid dislike you find in some of these
intelligent corners of GLLUG and slashdot is simply not practical or
professional.

Any decent programmer or sysadmin can do their job very well using
perl, this isn't the case for ASP or coldfusion or the oddities like
lisp which it would be unreasonable to expect people to use in a
professional environment.

"sorry Guv, I don't do perl' is just a copout for people who lack
programming experience or knowledge, I certainly wouldn't want
somebody like that on any team I work in. In the time I've been in my
current job I've worked with PHP, ASP, Java and C# - as well as plenty
of perl and as I said before the worst code by a long shot was the ASP
- and worse still was that you can't make a decent solution with it.
Nonetheless you get on with the job and do the best with the tools
you've got.

> I won't say I agree with Aaron but Perl is an essential sysadmin tool.
> It's all very well people who say "Oh I can just write a shell script"
> and, for a lot of stuff, that works fine.
>
> However when you are writing stuff that's going to be running on N
> different operating systems shell scripting becomes less portable.
> Supposing your favourite shell isn't available, what do you do then?
>
> Writing in perl is portable.  I've written stuff that's run
> simultaneously on 5 different operating systems, Windows being one of
> them.  I'm not saying that's impossible with shell scripting, but it's
> very easy with perl.
>
> "Well I'll write a perl script that can....." is a very reassuring start
> to an answer at interview time for a sysadmin role.
>
> I would be _really_ wary about hiring a sysadmin who doesn't write perl.

I just wouldn't hire somebody who didn't know and like perl for a
system administration or system integration role. They clearly don't
have sufficient understanding of the tools required for the job.

Not knowing or understanding perl is acceptable in a junior programmer
fresh out of academia which only teaches c#, c++ or java - but they
usually don't have the irrational hatred of the python, php and scheme
zealots you see in these parts and can learn to be pragmatic and
professional.
-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at gllug.org.uk
http://lists.gllug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug