Lately I've heard very frequently (may be a coincidence) 2 comments about perl: that is an 'obsolete' programming languaje and that has a lot of security issues. I like perl. Each time I have to do something I learn something new and I like it even more, but when I hear things like these I think they may be somehow right, let's face it, there is no perfect languaje. What I care the most is about the 'security issues', they say so but I don't know what that issues may be.
Don't care what they say, I'll keep using perl, but some extra info may be very useful for all of us...
So... what u think? (or know...)
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PS: The most common argument about the obsolete thing is that most of the perl books an guides are a bit old (from the past century :P )
So, people are spreading FUD about perl huh?
Lately I've heard very frequently (may be a coincidence) 2 comments about perl: that is an 'obsolete' programming languaje and that has a lot of security issues.
I'd also like to know what security issues it has. I'd ask those folks that made those comments to give specific examples.
So... what u think? (or know...)
Well, all software has it's fair share of bugs and security issues, so no matter what you decide to use instead, you're still going to have to deal with it. Now, I haven't heard anything about there being more than the normal amount of bugs in the program itself. One thing they might be pointing to is the fact that perl scripts can be very difficult to understand and therefore is probably more difficult to maintain. More bugs may pop up because of it.
PS: The most common argument about the obsolete thing is that most of the perl books an guides are a bit old (from the past century :P )
<sarcasm>Yes, for the same reasons, people should stop doing things like riding bikes, writing with pens, etc. That stuff is so last century and obsolete.</sarcasm> :P
Just because something is old, doesn't mean it's not worth using. What languages do they recommend as a replacement?
One of WestHost's largest customers, www.webmasterworld.com runs on perl.
So... what u think? (or know...)
One thing they might be pointing to is the fact that perl scripts can be very difficult to understand and therefore is probably more difficult to maintain. More bugs may pop up because of it.
Ironically in most cases Perl will have fewer bugs because so much is hidden from the developer, aka there is virtually no chance of a buffer overrun bug or a pointer arithmetic bug seeping into otherwise good code, because memory management, etc. is hidden (read: not as important as the business logic) from the developer so they can spend their time working on real problems. This is a very good reason why 4G languages *can be* more secure. Perl is secure, that is not to say that a perl script can't be insecure.... but then that can be said about any language.
Funny this FUD has been going on for nearly 4 years, here is a good article with your exact "myth" detailed:
Torrin, I understand your reaction, I love perl and I don't like people spreading those comments, but when I hear it frequently from different people, I get a bit worried because right now I'm involved writting some programs very importants that involve vital information and any security issue worries me.
All of the people that told me that kind of things obviously does not usually makes programming in perl, in this particular case they use asp (smells like microsoft uhg) an jsp (some of them do know perl).
Thank you HAND, that article is very intresting... and also I hope the perl for palm become real in a near future...