use Perl

• About points #1 and #3 (Score:1)

  by btilly (5037)

  They are part of a (now) well-known business pattern. Read The Innovator's Dilemma or its follow-up The Innovator's Solution.

  I'd never thought of applying the theory to programming languages. But it fits. Some of the pressures documented in The Innovator's Solution to pay close attention to existing customers apply in the case of Perl as well if you interpret them just right. The pricing part is not quite as good a fit, but it is close.

  However I've long said, if you want to improve the visibility of
  • Re: (Score:1)

    by renodino (6856)

    Umm, so why is Java so popular ? I've never seen an ISP that supported it.

    If Perl is going to compete with PHP, then its time for me to switch to Ruby.

    See also Idiocracy [imdb.com].
    • Re:About points #1 and #3 (Score:1)

      by btilly (5037) on 2007.09.07 21:29 (#57612) Journal

      There are different paths to success. Java's path involves having a large marketing machine and significant corporate sponsors. There is no mystery there, but it isn't an example that Perl looks like it will duplicate soon.
      
      PHP's success is along a line that is closer to how Perl grew. Historically Perl was the language that people used for small and personal web projects, which sometimes grew up. That's how a lot of Perl projects started, and a lot of Perl people began learning the language. (Including me. I was working for a small company in 1997 that told me, "We're doing well with personal Access applications, but we need to explore this web thing. Learn Perl and teach us about it.") But Perl no longer has that position - PHP does. It is worth wondering how PHP wound up in the niche that Perl was in, and worth wondering whether Perl could become more competitive in that niche.

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