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> But, I'm baffled that someone would suggest that a language is better because you can use more limited tools that might be marginally faster than extremely powerful and flexible tools

Because Python has both, and so much data is already split on common delimiters, and having a fast way to handle them is awesome?



Because Python has both, and so much data is already split on common delimiters, and having a fast way to handle them is awesome?

I know, and I said so. But, so does Perl (one of several "fast ways" of processing text in Perl is to use regexes, but it's not the only way). That's why I'm confused that you seem to think you're making differentiating statements about the two languages. That's all.

I happen to like Python, I just don't think it makes sense to present Python as a better text processing language than Perl...when, by most measures, including performance, it probably is not.


If there's there are string methods in Perl, great - I'll check this out next time I'm working on some Perl.

Unfortunately - and this is a cultural problem more than a technical one - nobody ever seems to use them, instead favoring RegExs for everything.




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