had a thought last night [uh oh...].
Boss: "It's easier to find Java Programmers than Perl Programmers.".
Answer: So what?
reason: are you going automatically fire everyone you have now
in order to work with Java, or are you [probably because it's
cheaper] train your people on Java?
if you aren't going to fire eveyone then ask yourself which
language is more "trainable", one with "print 'Hello, world!'"
or the subclass of the main with a self-indicating pointer that
calls the hook embedded in the main class on itself. hmmm...
somewheter between Stonehenge, perl.com, and M-J Dominus you can
find SOMEONE who can effectively train even the stupid chimps...
er, Finely Skilled Programmers at almost any site. effective,
reasonably priced training directed for the company's needs can
make all the difference in starting to use a new language.
one reason i've found that Perl is more "trainable" is that
the language does have a familliar feel to anyone who'se touched
shell, awk, sed or C (read: nearly anyone who'se lived near *NIX).
the C similarity makes it pretty accessable to even M$ types.
result is that most people who are willing to learn it can do so
pretty quickly.
Boss: "But we can't train our people in Perl overnight!"
Answer: And you can't train new people in how this company
works overnight. You can either live with training the Perly
folk how we do things -- which ties up the local folk anyway --
or just have the people who know our standards and procedures
take on a new language. You'll have equal problems bringing
in Java [Python, VB, RPG, COBOL, Tops-10 Macro...] programmers.
Result: you don't need to buy Perl Programmers, you can
probably train your existing people to use Perl faster than
you can find/integrate any of the other languages.
--
Steven Lembark 2930 W. Palmer St.
Chicago, IL 60647
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 800-762-1582
