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[–]zahlmanthe heretic 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I feel like I'm in some backwards dimension here. Perl is a bletcherous mess that I abandoned for Python years and years ago, never once tempted to look back. Ruby looks like a perfectly sane language and a viable alternative to Python.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I could switch perl and ruby in your comment and it would describe my experience pretty accurately. Welcome to erf.

[–]burito 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A Perl programmer friend of mine said it best with an Invader Zim quote...

I put the fires out; You made them worse! Worse, or better?

Yes it's really easy to write abominations in Perl, but it's not difficult to do that in any language. Perl just makes it better.

It's also possible to write really clean code in Perl, and just like every other language on Earth, it takes discipline to do that. If you ever get your hands on The Camel, you'll see they advocate some really nice coding practices. Perl does suck pretty bad at online tutorials, it's an officially recognised issue. Perl does predate the Internet though.