Re: larger issue (Re: Linux install misses Tk)

[Steven Rich - Knoxville TN SE <Steve.Rich@East>]

On Thu, 15 Jan 1998, Rick.McNeal wrote:

> 
> > 
> > 	I do not believe your assumption about getting more conduits in
> > java is correct.  I know that it is much, much easier to piece apart
> > database formats and parse strings in perl than it could ever be in java.  
> > 	N.B., there is a pilot-link interface for java.  Serial port
> > access, I don't think, is an issue any more.  Someone correct me if I'm
> > wrong.
> 
> IMHO, writing conduits in Java would be far easier. Then again, I know
> Java and have never written anything using perl.

I've got mixed feelings about stuff like this. I've written
lots-o-Perl and lots-o-Java both. Perl is whiz-bang about regexps and
packing/unpacking data streams and the like in the most terse and
simple ways. Also, list manipulation is a dream in Perl. Java doesn't
even have a regular expression api as part of the standard. (super
sigh)

There are packages for Java now that give some of the Perl power to
Java (see www.oroinc.com's Perl Tools) and would help to facilitate a
move like this. But this is something that I would see as a ``down the
road'' migration, since PilotMgr works so well now, and Java is still
a bit transient.

(Despite the fact that I'm very comfortable with Perl, I still find
the language to be almost ``write-only'', since I find reading other
people's code so difficult. This is due to the operator-intensive
nature of Perl and the ability to do so many things in so many
different ways.)

$.02
sjr

----------------------------------------------------
Steve Rich
Systems Engineer - Sun Microsystems Computer Company
423-671-7095

"The GIF (Graphics  Interchange Format),  pronounced "JIF",  was designed  by
                                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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   from the CSHOW package, written by CompuServe (designers of GIF)
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