...all I've ended up with is general "cuz I like it better" comments made by people who know almost nothing about Python.

Well I refrained from detailed comment because you specifically said that you weren't interested in hearing from people who didn't know Python well. But it sounds like people who don't know Python well are about all we've got around here :)

I've thought a few times that I really should make the effort to learn Python. I've bought the Learning Python book. I've sat down with it both in a comfortable chair and in front of a computer. I've learned many programming languages in my time. It doesn't take me long to pick up the differences in syntax.

But learning Perl was different. When I learned Perl there was something about it that really made sense to me. It fitted my thought patterns far better than any other language I'd learned before. For ages after discovering Perl I didn't bother to learn an new languages because I could do what I wanted in Perl far faster than I could do it in any other language.

In the last year I've tried to look at both Python and Java. Neither of them made the same impression that Perl did. They both seemed far too restrictive about how you did things. You seem to think that's a good thing in Python. I far prefer being able to do things in a number of different ways and being able to choose the best one for any particular job. I don't think that's a problem for any decent maintenance programmer.

So, OK, you've shown that in a few cases you type less characters in Python. So what? Like others have said, the sigils mean something in Perl. Looks to me like you'd have to go searching for that kind of information in a Python program.

I'll probably go back to learning Python and Java soon. I'll probably be able to get pretty good at them. But from what I've seen so far, I really can't see them replacing Perl as the language that I feel most comfortable with.

"The first rule of Perl club is you do not talk about Perl club."
-- Chip Salzenberg

clearer, more concise syntax

Charges not proved. Clearer != more concise sysntax. As has been mentioned many times with regard to sigils, a core perl design object was that different types of things should look different so as to reduce confusion

a shorter path to producing autogenerating documentation

Not proved. I wrote a simple but effective tool to add pod to an arbitray module class and it only took me an hour. But thats cause I used one of the most sophisticated regex engines there is: Perl.

having to only worry about, maybe, 4-5 different styles to maintain vs. 20

Not proved your honor. Complaints like this are redundant in the face of autoindenters like Emacs and PerlTidy. Does Python have a tidier?

far fewer rules to remember

Irrelevant. Try doing complicated things with simple tools and the result is convoluted.

Yves / DeMerphq
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Writing a good benchmark isnt as easy as it might look.

A good point (although rudely expressed). (mothra informs me that Python uses foo + bar as the equivalent of the dot operator.) But of course, push is still shorter than .append(). And none of this should have a major impact on which language is preferable.

buckaduck