use Perl

• look etc (Score:1)

  by Odud (1047) on 2001.12.06 11:37 (#2139) Journal

  Thanks - Hadn't used that before - it's better than going to the web site. It still doesn't solve the problem of what to do if you don't understand what the author is saying or (particularly in my case) where there are a lot of new versions and each one has to considered individually. I was after something like
  
  cpan> r critical
  or
  cpan> r all
  
  I guess the author would have to classify each new release. At least this would enable me to issue "idiot instructions" of the 'go here, type this' variety.
  
  (And avoid explaining a) what Parse::RecDescent is, and b) what I'm doing using it.)
  
  The reasoning behind all this is that we always tend to dumb-down here, perhaps so that we can replace skilled staff by cheaper alternatives.

  Reply to This

  • Re:look etc (Score:2)

    by hfb (74)

    You are probably looking for the CPAN::Psychic plug-in that I hear Schwern is working on....

    In all seriousness though, there is only so much one can do programmatically. And at least the CPAN.pm 'look' function downloads it for you and drops you into a shell so you can evaluate the module before deciding whether or not you want to install it.

    Also, you can create your own bundle, see the CPAN FAQ [cpan.org] that noone ever seems to read, for instructions on how to make a 'critical' and/or an 'all' bundle. Then, wri