Re: [gentoo-user] New project in perl? {OT}

[kashani]

On 1/1/2011 2:34 PM, Grant wrote:
> I'm sorry this is OT but I really value the opinion of many people
> subscribed to this list.
>
> I'm starting a new project that is quite straightforward and will
> interface with an old project.  The only point of contact between the
> two projects might be both of them having access to the same database
> table.  The old project is written in a language that is related to
> perl so I can imagine there would be some benefit to using perl for
> the new project.  Am I foolish to start a new project in perl at this
> stage in its lifecycle?  I won't be doing the coding myself and I
> wonder if I would be better off with PHP since more coders seem to be
> familiar with PHP than perl.

	In '99 I worked with a fellow who styled himself a software architect. 
The first step of each project he managed involved stating "We will 
write this software in Java." As you can imagine that's sorta backwards. 
I'd spec the software function, features, etc and then decide which 
language has better tools or command of the problem space. You will have 
to balance that against your knowledge of the language and the developer 
skills you have access to. However even the exercise of deciding "Python 
appears to be the superior language in this problem space, but we're 
going to go with Perl because the database module for our db already 
exists and is much more mature. Bob knows Perl better too." is worth 
doing because it helps define the scope of the project.
	FWIW the current startup I'm at is using Ruby for the front end and 
it's been a bit more work that PHP which is what the last company used. 
That's partly Rails immaturity, our lack of experience with Ruby, and 
having to learn the Rails/Ruby way. Unless the language you're familiar 
with is completely unsuitable, I'd say familiarity trumps language 
features. YMMV.

kashani