Hi,

For those who prefer to develop their websites
using Perl instead of PHP, why you you use Perl?

What are the advantages of using Perl over other
choices such as PHP? What made you choose Perl?

I know one can do a lot of things with Perl besides developing websites. Was wondering if because of this Perl might be a better choice to pick over PHP for developing websites, since one can do so much with Perl in regards to managing one's website and server with it, too.


Thank you very much for sharing!!

Louis

Perl and PHP are too similiar to me. I will usually develop web applications with PHP, mainly because I usually connect to a MySQL database server, and I would have to look up how to do that with perl. If you know one language, you probably know enough about the other to suffice. Yes, you can do other things with perl, that you can't do with PHP, but if you have a good idea of what you're doing with PHP, then you should have little problem figuring out perl problems.

well with my projects.. i seem to develop them faster in PHP.

I use Perl because I know Perl. (kinda) I hadn't even heard of PHP until about 6 months ago...guess I need to get out more. ;)

PHP all the way - much nicer "IMHO"

there is a huge difference between perl and php. i'll support perl all day long over php, if for no other reason than perl is more secure. there are exploits in the wild for redhat 7.3 and apache with php 4.2.3 for remote root (i have found the binaries while cleaning up hacked servers at work), plus just about every version of php has had some sort of hole in it (recent mime types worm(s)). If you use mod_perl then it's just as fast as php since it's not forking for the perl process.
for my website I use nothing but perl, mainly because I already knew it. It's a great language for sys admin work as well. There is not much you can't do with perl, most of which is just not possible with php (window manager - perlwm for example). Plus perl has been around since the internet really got going, it's been beaten and abuse and is quite resilient as a result. If you are going for quick website design and don't have the need to learn more than just that, php might be the better option for you. If you want to learn a full programming language, perl would be the way to go.

Wow,

Thanks Shadowrunner for the info. If I may ask, do you know the essence of the exploit(s); that is:

1) Is/are the exploit(s) due to unpatched software, inherent in the latest patched software on a RH 7.3 box with PHP 4.2.3, or in unsecure configuration of the boxes?

2) Where is the hole? In what software app? PHP, Apache, something else?

3) Were the boxes fully up2date on all patches and software versions?


Thanks a lot for sharing! Really curious about this since I've been playing with RH 7.3 on a home server.


Take care,

Louis

Perl is a scripting langauge.

A "real" programming language is something that can be compiled. PHP works fine and it's easier to program in. It all depends on what you are looking to do.

I don't believe someone can come out and say that one is better than the other without knowing what you are going to do with it

I don't believe someone can come out and say that one is better than the other without knowing what you are going to do with it

Not to mention what constitutes "better"... Are you talking faster development, easier support, less resource intensive?

Each has it's qualities...

Agreed. This debate is classic. Head over to sitepointforums.com and I'm sure you'll find a million threads with nearly the same title as this one. It's pointless to debate it.

Right on. How about those JETS!!!!

http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/19912.html

or Google has a ton on this..

http://www.google.com/search?q=php+vs+perl