Chris Benson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 25, 2001 at 04:08:59PM -0800, William R Ward wrote:
>> It's tempting - but not because I want to learn Java. Because Perl
>> seems to be dead.
> !! You gotta be kidding !!
> I'm running monthly training courses in London for IBM which are
> consistently full: a few administrators (the SP range and Tivoli
> use Perl
> extensively), but a lot of other people: web development and
> management
> and application people. In some quarters (City of London, Wall St.,
> Zurich), Perl seems to be known as "the MQ scripting language".
I think you just confirmed what he said--those aren't programming jobs but jobs in
which Perl is a valuable scripting tool in support of another position. I've found
exactly _one_ Perl _programming_ job here in Houston--the others have Perl as one of
many desired skills.
>> What to do? Abandon Perl and take the job offer?
It's not either/or. There's no reason not to learn Java--I wish I knew it. And I wish
I knew Perl better...and that I was better with C/C++..and Javascript..and even Visual
Basic..to say nothing of that assembler course I'm sorry I skipped.
The practicalities may demand you take the job and work with Java for a while--I don't
see why that's a bad thing. It's very limiting to think of oneself as an XYZ
programmer--and I think the "Perl or nothing" attitude is very bad advocacy.
>> Or am I just not
>> looking in the right place?
> I think you must not be looking in the right place ...
Enlighten me, then--I'm having the same problem, only I moved here without a job, so
my situation is perhaps a hair more urgent.
John A
