I still sometimes bang out small perl scripts for things that are too annoying/complex for command prompt and shell scripts but not worth writing something in, say, Go. I never learned python which is probably why I never use that.

[–] OpenStars@discuss.online 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

People keep saying Python, despite how it (1) sucks, and (2) is super annoying to keep up to date, with package management and the like, unlike Perl that is more stable. Though Python is also easy to use and powerful and extensible.

But I think each language type is what it is and has its own set of tradeoffs and balances. Unix is hyper-stable and secure but limited, Perl is powerful but requires discipline to use to full effect, and these days most people don't bother to learn it. Python is... "common", is perhaps the best way to put it:-). C/C++ is even more powerful, the latter bloated, and blamed for most memory management issues (although really, how much of that is merely bad programming practice? Okay, so it allows such though).

And now Rust is the new hot thing.:-)

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I enjoyed working with Rust once I got into its workflow. The borrow checker and lifetimes suck for people not used to the concepts. The funny thing about languages with lots of safety features is when people just unsafe things, an option in many languages to give oneself plenty of rope for a self-hanging (or, "footguns" is the hip new way of saying that).

[–] OpenStars@discuss.online 2 points 1 month ago

I'm guessing it says "either I'm being forced to use this language or it's the only related one I know how to use, but only halfway":-)