Jeff Westman wrote: > > Question for this group. And please don't flame me for asking this. > > Often times one writes in, asking how to do something fairly trivial, > such as a date conversion from a non-standard format, or doing something > else not require too much overhead. When asked for advice, nine times > out of ten, the responded will refer the originator to such-and-such > module at CPAN to download and install. I'm all for not re-inventing > the wheel -- don't get me wrong. But if any of you are like me, you > don't have access to install modules that run in a production environment. > In my case, we have a couple of test servers and several hundred satellite > servers that run 'production code'. So, installing a module is out-of- > the-question. In my case, I am basically "stuck" with the perl [5.8] > default libraries and modules. > > So, why is it that most of the solutions represented in this group tend > to point to a CPAN module when the code for it isn't that hard (usually) > to write? I'm not sure if using modules is a matter of "convenience" > or "necessity". While the solutions shown here will most often work, > they aren't practical for Joe Programmer working in the corporate world > (don't flame me! LOL) who doesn't have access to install as root or install > on many many servers. > > My point being, it might be helpful to provide a solution such as > > See xxx::yyy at CPAN or my solution below > > I tend to believe that most people part this list distribution do coding > for a living, while others just tinker with it on the side or are > students. > > I suppose one way to point to a CPAN module and not have to install > as root would be to install the module in the application library path.
One of the most powerful aspects of Perl is that it can be extended so easily. If a poster made it clear that he was unable to add to the root or private installations then we wouldn't offer a modular solution. As you say: Jeff Westman wrote: > Most people part this list distribution do coding for a living, while > others just tinker with it on the side or are students. So most people should be able to get modules installed, either by themselves or their sysadmin. But I know that there are non-responsive adminsitrations about. I would be a huge waste of time to offer the option of both a CPAN module and manually-coded solution, to every question. Most modules represent many hours of coding effort. Quite often, though, I have often answered a question by saying that you could use module 'X', but it wouldn't be worthwhile unless you needed the whole of the package and four lines of Perl will suffice in the simplest case. HTH, Rob -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <http://learn.perl.org/> <http://learn.perl.org/first-response>
