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Of frameworks and the future

Catalyst, by the way, is another MVC oriented Web framework. If you've got a handle on Rails, you've probably got a handle on Catalyst. Catalyst seems to be the dominant web framework in the Perl community and, in keeping with the Perl spirit, it's less opinionated. Where Rails knows what's best for you and can make it a little tricky if you want to do things differently, Catalyst is of the the opinion that you know what's best for you, and lets you work your way.

If you like less conventional approaches to web application development, you might find Jifty more to your taste. Taking its cues from Seaside (an amazing Smalltalk based framework that turns web development on its head), Jifty aims to make it easy to write highly interactive web applications that would be tricky to manage in a RESTful style. Continuity, by Brock Wilcox and Scott Walters, is another Seaside inspired library that seems to be stuffed with ideas.

Every write up of a language nowadays will claim that the language has an active and friendly developer community. Perl's community is no exception, though parts of it can get cranky. Newcomers to Perl can learn a great deal about Perl and the Perl Way from communities like Perlmonks, which is both a forum for straightforward Q & A and for longer articles known as "meditations" which cover topics in more depth. Other sites worth a look are Use Perl, Perl Buzz, perl.com and The Perl Foundation.

According to Jonathan Corbet, writing on LWN.net, 2009 "will be a make-or-break year for Perl. If the Perl developers cannot either bring new life to Perl 5 or turn Perl 6 into something real, this language will, by the end of the year, have moved well down the road to "legacy" status."

I wonder if he's looking at the same language as me. I see an active Perl 5 community, working on and with, excellent tools on CPAN. Sure, version 10.1 could have arrived sooner, but that appears to be being rectified. I see Perl 6 and Parrot hitting their targets. This isn't crystal ball gazing. This is what's happening now. Phrases like "make-or-break" might make sense for a language that's moribund, but if you've read this far, you'll know that Perl isn't moribund. 2009 won't be a make or break year - I doubt we'll see fireworks, but I think that developments like Perl-On-A-Stick and Moose will continue to make life easier for curious newcomers, old hands and even returnees like me.

About the Author

Piers Cawley is a veteran Perl programmer with 10 years service who has spent the last couple of years in a lucrative dalliance with Ruby, but who is returning to the Perl fold for personal work. Between 2002 and 2005, he wrote regular summaries of activities in Perl 6 development for perl.com.

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