Re: Perl vs Java - your feedback, not flames

Thank you so much....all advice is much appreciated

-----Original Message-----
From: ilugd-dev-bounces+stefan=3Dblueprintcorp.com-cunTk1MwBs8/[email protected]
[mailto:ilugd-dev-bounces+stefan=3Dblueprintcorp.com-cunTk1MwBs8/[email protected]]=
 On
Behalf Of Kapoor, Nishikant
Sent: September 21, 2005 7:58 AM
To: ilugd-dev-cunTk1MwBs8/[email protected]
Subject: Re: [ILUGD-Dev] Perl vs Java - your feedback, not flames

> On Wednesday, 21 Sep 2005 04:22, Stefan Neilson wrote:
> > Read this articles on your site and how a couple of =

> questions. This form
> > was completed in 2004 and I am wondering how java has =

> changed since then. I
> > have a part ownership in a software development company. =

> Currently all of
> > our software is built in perl. With the lack of perl =

> resources there has
> > been discussion about moving over to Java. I wanted to get =

> some advice
> > outside our office on the differences and benefits between =

> java and perl
> > and if it is worth the cost of moving to java.
> >
> =

> Making a company wide programming language policy is not a =

> wise policy. You =

> choose the language based on the work to be done.
> =

> It is unlikely that you will use Java for day to day =

> scripting work on the =

> shell or in cron jobs. On the other hand, in making =

> applications Java is at =

> least as much useful as Perl. Both can do more or less =

> similar things, both =

> have extensive libraries to fall back upon for missing =

> functionalities. You =

> should get a lot of Perl folks in the job front. Which lack =

> of resources are =

> you talking about?

A while back, I needed to make a decision to choose between Perl and Java
(servlets), and I went with Perl. In fact, the original posting that Stefan
quoted originated from me. Now that I have gone through this, I think I have
a good understanding of the main differences between the two.

We work on many projects, some of which are in Java, some in Perl, and a
very few in PHP as well. For us, finding Perl expertise has been difficult,
whereas Java (and PHP) programmers are much easier to find. However, I
personally am not a big fan of Java, simply because it has a huge footprint,
and a long code-compile-test cycle. Perl, on the other hand, is a
lightweight, has a fast code-test cycle, and is a big help in so many
administrative routines that we need for project maintenance that are
otherwise not (direct) part of the project.

The major concern that I have seen raised whenever Perl Vs Java discussion
comes up, is scalability. It seems to me that people doubt if Perl can scale
well when it comes to coding BIG projects i.e. projects involving datasets
with millions of tuples. People also seem to be skeptical about Perl's
performance (execution speed). My personal experience has been that Perl can
handle such projects with equal ease. We have database tables with millions
of tuples, and have not had any performance issues caused especially as a
result of using Perl. Our performance issues have mostly been due to
improper 'join', or tables not appropriately indexed.

This is just my personal point of view. Selecting one platform over another
requires many other factors to be considered, in addition to measuring
technical differences. Company's long term policy, supervisor's perception
about one or the other, are some of them.

Regards,
Nishi


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