Jan Wilson wrote: >* John Richard Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [020710 16:49]: > > >>I often see reference in many situations to Pearl, but what eaxtly is it. >>John >> >> > >Assuming you mean Perl, as in the subject, and not Pearl, it is a >programming language known for its ability to manipulate text easily. >Since almost everything having to do with Linux keeps its >configuration files in ASCII text, Perl works quite nicely for >installation scripts and suchlike. > >I use it A LOT for all the little system administrator tasks that beg >for automation. Running a school network, and being somewhat lazy, >I'll whip up a Perl script anytime a BASH script starts becoming too >complicated, and often I'll mix the two. > >In all honesty, I have been known to spend an hour writing a Perl >program that would save me maybe 2 minutes work on maybe 5 different >occasions ;-) > >Anyway, you can find lots of information by typing >man perl > >and reading the Perl manual. Or you can go to >http://www.perl.com/ > >It would be hard to find a Linux distribution that does not have Perl >installed, if you don't count the floppy-based distros. It is also >available for Windows if you ever have to mess with that junk. > >The most classic Perl book is _Programming Perl_ by Larry Wall (the >creator of Perl) et. al. This O'Reilly book has a picture of a camel >on the cover, so you'll also see references to "the camel book." > >Much more than you wanted to know, right? ;-) > > > My family often say I'm too curious. I found the name interesting. I hadn't thought about man python, as it wasn't a specific programme, I hadn't thought about looking for perl there( yes I spelt it wrong) these various flavours they are all variations of C, C+, C++ ,I guess. They all do something better in some way and that is why programmes use them.
No, I welcome your explanation, doesn't matter how long it is. One day maybe I will try to learn programming. Right now I need to learn more configuaration skills, but thank you for this explanation. John -- John Richard Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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