Fast, concise and reliable code? Try Perl!

Maybe you're new to programming. Maybe you just like learning new languages. But, from so many options, which one to choose?

Sure, you probably heard a lot about about Java. PHP too, specially if you're into web programming. If you're into open-source, you might have also heard about Python and, if you're a Object-Oriented junkie, Ruby. In all cases, you probably also heard about Perl.

Perl.

Unfortunately, chances are you heard a lot of FUD about Perl. This topic itself has sprung a lot of comments and replies, so I'll not go there. For whatever purpose or language, you should never pay attention to FUD. So, don't. Instead, I'm gonna talk a little about what makes Perl the language of choice for so many people and companies.

Perl is fast!

I know, I know, benchmarking is evil (you can see a broader discussion about it here and here(slides+talk)). But you don't even have to benchmark your code to see how fast it runs. Perl is not purely interpreted and has several optimizations during compile time. If even after that your code is not fast enough for your purposes, you can use XS, SWIG or even Inline to create parts of code in C (or even Assembly, for that matter) where speed is critical.

Examples include Perl's OpenGL implementation, which has no statistical differences between the C implementation and even overcomes C in some operations (impressed? see the full story). I've also seen Lorn++'s LWP::Curl fetch web pages faster than the curl binary itself (I'll probably blog about this later on, but if you're interested, he could use your help!).

Not only that, but a Perl implementation also won the WideFinder contest, where people attempted to write a program that would benefit from paralelism present in modern CPUs with slow clock rate but many cores.

Perl lets you do more, with less code.

Perl's conciseness is so amazing that it's a popular game among programmers to try and write a program that solves a particular problem with less characters as possible (this is called golf, and you can see here how Perl stands out from the crowd in it). Not only that, but one-liners can be so powerful there are a lot of system administrators who use Perl as a command line tool instead of as a programmer would.

Sure, you can write a complete wiki in 5 lines of Perl. But, of course, it doesn't mean you should. Professional programs, written by professional Perl programmers, tend to be clear and scalable, yet still concise. If you're into metrics, you know this usually means faster development and fewer bugs in your code.

I recently came across the Computer Language Benchmarks Game and a nice graph of programs benchmarked against their implementations in several different languages. The X axis is slowness, while the Y axis is code size. So, an utopic optimal language would have all their programs on (0,0). Here's the result related to this post:


As you can see, Perl is not only a heavy player, it's one of your best choices when it comes to speed, size and dependability. Of course, you can help your language (whatever it is) improve it's average - even Perl! But I digress...


Perl has a powerful and modern object system.

It's called Moose. Perl 5 provides all the material to implement object orientation (OO) as you see fit. While writing standard Perl OO is easy if you actually understand OO, it's through Moose that you'll experience the actual ease of use and power of OO. Moose proudly stole all the nice features from other object systems present in different languages such as Java, Ruby, Smalltalk, Ocaml, Perl6, and implemented some sweetness of their own, such as Perl Roles.

-------------8<-------------
package Laptop;
use Moose;

extends 'Computer';

has 'weight' => (isa => 'Int', is => 'rw', required => 1);
-------------8<-------------

Beautiful, simple, elegant, powerful. Moose.


Perl has an amazing and active community.

The Perl community is HUGE and vibrant. We have several Perl Mongers groups spread around the globe, so you'll probably find one nearby (if not, you can always create one!). There are monthly social and technical meetings, workshops and major Perl conferences called YAPCs. But, if people are not really your thing, mind the code they produce: The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN) has more than 16 thousand modules ready for you to use, earning the common saying that, with CPAN, "90% of your program - whatever it is - is already written". Play with the search utility and see for yourself! Not only that, by the time of this writing there was an average of around 200 new modules/versions uploaded every month!

But, most importantly:

Perl is fun!

When you first dip your toe into Perl, you might be a little scared of how can there be so many ways of doing the same thing (in the Perl world this is called TIMTOWTDI). Perl not only has a plural and flexible syntax, it lets you extend it, bend it, and modify it to suit your needs and style. With Perl, you are not tied to the way the language developer's wanted you to write your program. It lets you write your code, your way. So, letting your imagination flow, you can actually have fun while coding, be it writing clear, elegant and professional code during work (which can even be enforced with Perl::Critic and allies) or writing many other forms of art in your free time.

Perl is freedom - try it.