Randal said it would be tough to do in sed. He didn't say he didn't understand sed. Randal understands sed quite well. Which is why he uses Perl. :-)
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Randal finds sed tough, but understands it, so he prefers Perl for complex tasks.
- In plain terms
- Even if you understand a tool, choose a better one for hard jobs.
- What can you take from it?
- Pick the language that fits the problem.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- When is it worth switching tools?
- How do you balance expertise vs. suitability?
Another view
Switching tools adds learning overhead.
More from Larry Wall
Perl programming is an *empirical* science!
Permalink to quote #19 Real programmers can write assembly code in any language. :-)
Permalink to quote #21 Let us be charitable, and call it a misleading feature :-)
Permalink to quote #18
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