@Perl when I became Linux Server Amin 25 years ago, I learned Perl. Because I was looking for something beyond Bash and AWK.
I love this script language. Meanwhile I have the feeling that Perl is rather retrocomputing, is my feeling wrong?
@winfried@Perl Yep. Perl is a language you can throw line noise at, and it will do its darnedest to produce something useful. It's also a language that you can write the backends of modern, dynamic web applications in, if you choose to. It's good for lots of things, and it's installed or installable pretty much anywhere.
@winfried@Perl yes and no. #Perl just works. But learning Perl is something you don’t do anymore, apparently.
These days you learn #Python since it has a bigger community.
So yes, Perl gets more retro as days pass. But look at the bright side: COBOL and Fortran are retro computing languages too and good programmers in those languages can make a fortune. 😆
@winfried@Perl also, it seems that most #Perl programmers are far too practical to spend their time on social networks so there is a low chance of finding thousands of them here. 😇
They're definitely out there. A previous boss (and current co-worker... 😀 ) did a lot of COBOL earlier in his career - he's no older than me - but still does COBOL recreationally 😂
@Stark9837@koen@winfried@Perl former COBOL dev here. Lots of olds doing COBOL. I doubt any are making fortunes. Lots of low-cost-of-living countries have smart companies that will outsource your COBOL maintenance, paying low wages to folks.
@Perl@slott56@Stark9837@winfried hmm, that is disappointing. I was clinging to the thought of Perl becoming the vintage language that it is and Perl programmers becoming well payed and respected craftsmen (craftspeople).
@koen@Perl@Stark9837@winfried heh. All languages become legacy. I’m waiting to be the last Pascal programmer and cash in big time. (The COBOL thing eluded me. I learned PERL, then Python. Couldn’t face COBOL with serious intent ever again.)
@koen@Perl@slott56@Stark9837@winfried Perl is only “retro” to people whose opinions were frozen in the 2000s and their repeaters.
It has had major releases with significant improvements and enhancements every year since 2011. You can read about last week’s v5.38.0 here: https://perldoc.perl.org/perl5380delta
And I have been a well-paid and (hopefully) -respected professional #Perl craftsman since 2007.
@winfried@Perl@mjgardner@slott56@Stark9837 I prefer the term ‘vintage’ over ‘retro’, but I must say, to me personally #Perl is far from retro. It’s just that #Python seems to have won the ‘system programming languages for starters’ battle years ago.
I know quite some Perl programmers, none of which are younger that 40 years. But perhaps I just don’t know too many young programmers. 😇
@Stark9837@koen@winfried@Perl I now work with a guy who had his first job on COBOL and Perl. And it was just 5 years ago, not 30. AFAIK, no, he didn't make a fortune, just a regular junior hassle.
the word on r/CSCareerQuestions was that there are cobol devs making a lot of money but it’s the knowledge of the systems/industries that makes them the money, not the language itself, if that makes sense
@cathodion@koen@Perl yes, the market regulates that. If, for example, a bank still relies on Cobol, it is its own fault if costs skyrocket. What do we learn from this? If it's about money, learn exotics :)
@winfried@Perl It's not retro, it's still being developed (Perl 5.38.0 was just released with some great new features!) and it's still at the core of many Linux- and web-based systems. Other languages have become more popular for web applications, though, which is ehy some people want to write it off as dead or "retro."
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