| Lesson 2 | Perl basics |
| Objective | Explore why Perl is an ideal language for Web programming. |
Perl Web Language
If it is true that the major difference between humans and other animals is our ability to create tools, then the invention of Perl was a major milestone in the advancement of the species. Originally created as a generalized tool for managing Unix systems, Perl has found so many other uses that it is now arguably the most popular language on the Internet.
- Programming is the Art of Manipulating Data: Programming is the art of manipulating data. Whether the data is columns of numbers, text files, graphics, or any number of different classes of data, the job of the program is to manipulate that data to produce the result the user requires. To that end, computer languages must classify different kinds of data. These classifications, or data types, are the fundamental units of programming. Typical data types are:
- ordinal numbers
- real numbers
- character strings
- arrays
- aggregate structures of other data types
Is Perl still used for web development?
Perl, while not as prevalent as it once was, still maintains a niche presence in the web development landscape. Over the years,
Perl has indeed seen a significant decrease in popularity for new web development projects, largely overshadowed by more contemporary
languages such as JavaScript, Python, and Ruby.
Nonetheless, Perl continues to be used, particularly for the maintenance of existing systems. Large corporations, universities, and research institutions have been known to maintain sizable codebases written in Perl. This is particularly true for systems that were developed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Perl was one of the dominant languages for web development.
In addition to legacy system maintenance, Perl retains a role in specialized areas due to some of its strengths. For instance, Perl's robust text processing capabilities have been beneficial for bioinformatics and data science. Its prowess at regular expressions has also rendered it useful for specific tasks such as log file analysis.
While Perl 5 continues to be utilized for these purposes, the Perl community has been developing Perl 6 (renamed Raku in 2019), which is a separate language designed to address some of the criticisms of Perl 5. As of my knowledge cutoff, it remains to be seen whether Raku will significantly boost Perl's standing in the web development world.
It's worth noting that Perl, like any other programming language, has its unique features and strengths, and its efficacy largely depends on the specific requirements of the project and the expertise of the development team. Therefore, it is advisable to evaluate the benefits and trade-offs of using Perl in light of your specific project requirements and context.
Remember, technology landscapes evolve rapidly, and it is crucial to ensure that your information is current. You may want to refer to the latest sources or consult with experts in the field to get an up-to-date understanding of Perl's role in modern web development.
Nonetheless, Perl continues to be used, particularly for the maintenance of existing systems. Large corporations, universities, and research institutions have been known to maintain sizable codebases written in Perl. This is particularly true for systems that were developed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Perl was one of the dominant languages for web development.
In addition to legacy system maintenance, Perl retains a role in specialized areas due to some of its strengths. For instance, Perl's robust text processing capabilities have been beneficial for bioinformatics and data science. Its prowess at regular expressions has also rendered it useful for specific tasks such as log file analysis.
While Perl 5 continues to be utilized for these purposes, the Perl community has been developing Perl 6 (renamed Raku in 2019), which is a separate language designed to address some of the criticisms of Perl 5. As of my knowledge cutoff, it remains to be seen whether Raku will significantly boost Perl's standing in the web development world.
It's worth noting that Perl, like any other programming language, has its unique features and strengths, and its efficacy largely depends on the specific requirements of the project and the expertise of the development team. Therefore, it is advisable to evaluate the benefits and trade-offs of using Perl in light of your specific project requirements and context.
Remember, technology landscapes evolve rapidly, and it is crucial to ensure that your information is current. You may want to refer to the latest sources or consult with experts in the field to get an up-to-date understanding of Perl's role in modern web development.
Perl Data Types
Using these data types, the programmer builds the more specific types necessary for the task at hand.
Web programming is the art of manipulating textual data, a task at which Perl excels. Perl is very strong with character-based types.
That is not to say that Perl cannot handle numeric data. However, Perl is stronger with character types and text manipulation.
- Three primary data types of Perl: Three primary data types of Perl: 1) scalars, 2) arrays, and 3) hashes. Unlike many other languages that focus on things such as strings, integers, floats, Perl's types focus on how you organize your data, rather than what the data is. It is an approach to data types that is unusual to those who think of types as restricting data to certain values, but in practice, it is a robust, powerful approach that many other programming languages follow. Most of this information will be reinforced in subsequent modules. Primarily, you need to understand how to create and assign values to Perl's three primary data types (scalars, arrays, and hashes). You also need to ensure that you understand context because it will come up repeatedly as you program Perl.