[CLUE-Talk] Perl vs. Python

[Jed S. Baer]

http://www.igs.net/~tril/humor/computer/python.txt

Author: funkster{at-sign}midwinter.com
Posted to rec.humor.funny

This has been percolating in the back of my mind for a while.  It's
a scene from _The Empire Strikes Back_, reinterpreted to serve a
valuable moral lesson for aspiring programmers.

EXTERIOR: DAGOBAH -- DAY
  With Yoda strapped to his back, Luke climbs up one of the
  many thick vines that grow in the swamp until he reaches the
  Dagobah statistics lab. Panting heavily, he continues his
  exercises -- grepping, installing new packages, logging in as
  root, and writing replacements for two-year-old shell scripts
  in Python.

YODA:
  Code!  Yes.  A programmer's strength flows from code maintainability.
  But beware of Perl.  Terse syntax... more than one way to do it...
  default variables.  The dark side of code maintainability are they.
  Easily they flow, quick to join you when code you write.  If once
  you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny,
  consume you it will.

LUKE: Is Perl better than Python?

YODA: No... no... no.  Quicker, easier, more seductive.

LUKE: But how will I know why Python is better than Perl?

YODA: You will know.  When your code you try to read six months from
      now.

-- 
... it is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday
facilitate a police state. -- Bruce Schneier