[Zope] Re: [Zope-Annce] ANN: Perl For Zope - why I'm bummed

Roman Milner rmilner@point-one.net
25 May 2000 17:53:30 -0500


>>>>> "KM" == Ken Manheimer <klm@digicool.com> writes:

    KM> I have some misgivings with this outlook.  It sounds like
    KM> people who seek job security by having expertise with a system
    KM> that closes out unfamiliar options - whether the options are
    KM> better or worse.

I'm not in any way unfamiliar with perl.  If this had been a language
that I didn't know or, or any technology that I didn't know - I
would have an opened mind.  I've been down the perl road, and have made a
personal choice never to do it again.

    KM> For all of you that love Python, and testify to either leaving
    KM> perl with great relief or not being willing to learn it in the
    KM> first place - why don't you trust your judgement?  Python
    KM> *does* offer better a better foundation for persistence,
    KM> acquisition, general object-oriented applications, etc - you
    KM> should not be frightened of a level, open zope playing field
    KM> that admits both python and perl!

Yes, *I* should.  I'm trying to make the point that it's nieve to
believe that I will be able to just ignore the perl bits.  Yes, I can
avoid writing anything original in perl but sooner or later, if I'm 
working with zope, I will be asked to do something with one of the perl
methods.  They are going to be prevalent and hard to avoid.  So, if my
goal is to entirely avoid maintaining perl code, I will have to avoid
Zope.

    KM> I never really learned C - but that doesn't mean i won't use
    KM> other people's C extensions!  Many many people have found
    KM> Python to be the best way to get acquainted with Java, with
    KM> jpython - and i wonder how many java folks got turned on to
    KM> python's advantages, though the ability to use java
    KM> interactively via jpython.  Access to other languages via
    KM> python isn't a problem, it's a solution - why should it be any
    KM> different with Zope?
  
I wouldn't mind using someone else's perl module either.  But it just
isn't going to be limited to that.  Developers get hit by buses, and
managers assign the code to other people.

I think that anyone who wants to claim Zope expertise will need to
know and be willing to code in perl.

^Roman