* Chris Andrews ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
>
> The learning curve to writing *bad* PHP is really flat. The learning curve
> to writing good, secure, scalable PHP I would suggest is much steeper and
> longer, because the language itself, and also the user community (and so
> the support and resources available) is so geared to writing quick-hack
> code.
>
Which was the state of Perl *plucks figure out of the air* 4 years
ago. However during this time we've seen great advances in the way
people develop in Perl. Off the top of my head I'd suggest the major
forces in this advancement are (and this is imho),
* Testing
Testing has become easier and more fun in Perl, thanks to
all the modules, articles, talks on the subject. (At this
point I'd like to suggest to anyone who hasn't looked at
Test::MockObject to look at it today)
* Template Toolkit
Like TT or not, the emergence of a dominant templating
system has stopped people in a lot of cases rolling their
own, or hacking their own extensions onto H::T.
* YAPC
YAPC conferences have meant there are a low cost alternative
to TPC, meaning that people can still meet with their peers
and learn from talks/tutorials even if they can't afford TPC.
* Perl 6
Perl 6 is acting as a stimulus for the way people think about
Perl and the Perl community (and its relationship to Python,
Java, et al.) Also I'm hoping we will see some aspects of
Perl 6 make their way into 5.10 but there are already lots
of modules on CPAN emulating Perl 6 RFC suggestions. Of all
the driving forces this is perhaps the one which we haven't
seen the most impact from so far, but I believe we will see
more and more impact from it, in the next 6~12 months.
I've probably forgotten some of the improvements in the world of Perl
during this time, but the point remains Perl has matured in ``software
engineering'' terms, whatever that means and PHP still has to do so.
Anyway, thats just me tuppence ha'penny worth,
Greg
--
Greg McCarroll http://www.mccarroll.org.uk/~gem/
jabber:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
