kpc00@JUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (kpc) (10/06/90)
I'm considering using perl for a sort of an extension language, but I
don't know much about perl. Can Larry Wall and/or other perl hackers
provide some insight? (The non-natural question numbers are from
unwillingness to take the time to renumber the list :-).)
1. Is it faster than awk, nawk, and gawk? Does it have better memory
(program size) limitations?
How many passes through the source does it make?
2. Is it easily modifiable? How does it compare to nawk? Does it
use yacc?
How easy will it be to add some new operators, a few new built-in
functions, and function pointers?
How easy will it be to add a C call function? How about some kind
of dynamic linking and calling?
How easy will it be to add some C++-style default argument values
for variable-argument built-in functions? How easy would function
overloading be to implement? How about overloading of built-ins?
How easy will it be to add a require/provide and/or an autoload
facility? How easy will it be to deallocate one program's memory
and to load another in its place?
2.5 Can it do _everything_ that nawk can do? (Other than perhaps the
main outer loop that allows you to specify pattern-action statements.)
2.75 Will it be as easy to learn as nawk is for _hardware_ engineers?
(Note: I chose perl- and awk-like languages rather than LISP-like
or other types of languages for this very reason; some users will
only have BASIC or FORTRAN or C experience and willingness.) Is
it as well documented as nawk is with its book? Better than
nawk's man page?
3. Is there a compiler or a perl to C translator? Is there one in
the works? How easy would it be to do a byte-compile style operation?
Are there software development tools to go along with it? Is
there an emacs perl-mode?
4. Has it been ported to UTS (a big mainframe UNIX)? Has it been
ported to HP-UX?
5 Is its source free?
6. Where can I get it _using email_?
I already know that it's well-supported just by glancing at this
newsgroup. Do people send lwall fixes?
I don't read this newsgroup; please let me know by email if this is an
inappropriate place to ask these questions, and email any replies if
possible.
Thanks much.
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