Why Python is Better than Perl

Do you know why Python is better than Perl?

Python encourages the writing of reusable code.

Reusable code is good for the long term because it means you have to write less of it overall.

And you can use Python for anything from desktop applications to enterprise wide applications. You can use it for prototyping and the final version.

I heard Python is suitable for mobile applications, too.

You can actually use Python for distributed computing, too. That flexibility is one of the reasons why Python is better than Perl.

I heard Python could be used for almost anything.

Python is good for scientific computing and numeric computing, plus it does text processing.

And Python has a lot more third party tools to simplify development.

Python has the benefit of using compilation as a code check. If it compiles, it will probably run.

If you want a super-tool, the Java Virtual Machine is so good that other languages even use it.

If you like the JVM, you could learn Jython -- a Java -- Python hybrid.

One monster at a time, please. What are the weaknesses of Perl?

Perl is an interpreted language, which means it isn't a good idea for real time or high performance applications.

Real time and high performance tend to be the applications they hire programmers to write.

Perl is not good to use to replace shell script.

I thought you could use it for shell scripting.

Only if done right, and it is rarely done right.

What about web apps? That's one of the major drivers of new coding these days.

While Perl has been used for CGI long ago in the history of the internet, and it can be used for Web forms, it is not ideal for web pages. Ruby on Rails is better.

Ruby on Rails is good for rapid prototyping of sites, but Twitter and Groupon had to abandon it.

So what does that say about Perl?

Goodbye.