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Re: Language choice for high-volume Oracle CGI interface?

From: Lee Fesperman <firstsql_at_ix.netcom.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 22:42:21 -0700
Message-ID: <377073BD.319@ix.netcom.com>


Matt Sergeant wrote:
>
> Lee Fesperman wrote:
> >
> > Actually, there are a lot of disadvantages to using a 'subset' of a language for
> > specific purpose (like using a subset of Perl for CGI). Assuming you're advocating using
> > a subset of Perl (so you don't have to learn the full blown language), the disadvantages
> > of that approach include:
> >
> > + You must clearly document this subset, carefully leaving out complexities of the
> > language that are not needed. What to include can be a very hard choice to make.
>
> Why?

Why what? Try ... to enable "using a subset of Perl so you don't have to learn the full blown language."

> > + To a user of the subset, many of the elements will be counter-intuitive since they
> > were actually designed for a larger purpose.
>
> Such as? Please give examples, with comparisons to how Jive does this so
> much better. Don't limit yourself to pure perl, but consider things like
> EmbPerl which do something very similar to Jive (without it's
> limitations).

I gave an example before - cgi name lookup. Jive is a a different animal than Perl (even some specialized subset); it has tight integration with database - the language directly supports SQL data types, SQL nulls, SQL idioms (between, like, ...), input/output parameters, nested queries and more.

> > + Certain aspects of the processing will always be a 'misfit' (impediance mismatch) with
> > the language. For instance, access to CGI variables in Perl always requires an explicit
> > lookup. These aspects will never make 'sense' to the subset user.
>
> Eh? With Jive you declare:
>
> input my_form_name
>
> With perl you generally do:
>
> param('my_form_name') - CGI.pm
>
> or with EmbPerl:
>
> $fdat{my_form_name}
>
> No explicit lookup. Those seem like perfect matches to me.

That's exactly what I meant -- those are explicit lookups. Similiar to a C function call -- cgiLookup("my_form_name"). Also, the dollar sign and braces notation is hardly intuitive to experienced developers from other languages.

> > If you are recommending that Perl CGI is a good choice for an experienced developer in
> > Perl, I wholeheartedly agree with you.
>
> s/ in Perl//;

Another notation that is rare in other languages.  

> My experience with languages limited to one problem domain is that they
> are just that: Limited.

As if Perl was more than a scripting language! If you want general purpose, try Java (On topic !?!), C, Assembly.

--
Lee Fesperman, FFE Software, Inc. (http://www.firstsql.com) Received on Wed Jun 23 1999 - 00:42:21 CDT

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