From: carter@cmptrc.lonestar.org (Carter Bennett)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: How to convice awk/sed users to use Perl ?
Summary: A look at Johan's referece card should do it.
Date: 10 Sep 92 15:59:42 GMT
Organization: CompuTrac Inc., Richardson TX

In article <1992Sep9.143629.13571@cbfsb.cb.att.com> swu@att.com writes:
>As a Perl beginner, I don't know how to answer the following question 
>raised by my colleagues:
>   I  use ksh/awk/sed very well, why bother to spend a lot of 
>       time to learn Perl ?
>   What's the real advantages of perl over ksh/awk/sed ?
>

  I made the switch to ksh/awk/sed because of the large number of useful
operators and functions already defined in Perl.  If you have a copy of
the Camel Book, you likely have a copy of Johan Vromans' Reference Guide.
That's one of the best recruiters I have found!

  If someone asks those questions of me, the first thing I show them is the
list of Special Variables.  A clever ksh user will then say, "But most of
those I can get from ksh!"

  Once they've mulled that over, I show them the regular expression 
characters, and point out \w, \d, and perhaps one or two others.  Even an 
expert awk or sed user can't say, "We've got all of those."

  If they deal with foreign system data conversion at all, I point out the
section on Structure Conversion (pack and unpack).  That alone will get about
ten percent of the hold-outs.

  If they're nosey people, I show them how easy it is to call crypt!  That
will get an awful lot of recruits (more than we'd like to believe).

   Some folks will then counter with, "Yeah, but Perl isn't on all the 
systems that are out there."   
   And I say, "Well why not?  Thanks to Larry, Perl is FREE!  Perl is easy 
to install!  Why, I have the distribution package right here - have a copy!  
I'll even help you install it!  Now, do you want this on a PC or Unix 
clone?"

   Sometimes a suit will say, "Free software?  That means we can't call
for support!"  Then I point out that we have the sourcecode and maybe I'll
show them the latest messages in comp.lang.perl.
   "See the names on these messages?  Larry Wall - Randal Schwartz - Johan
Vromans?  Now look at this book with the camel on it.  And the card that came
with it.  And look at the name on this sourcecode.  Now look at some of the
other messages - and look at the Camel Book's acknowledgements."

   By this time, I either have a person who is ready for their first 
tutorial, or one who is ready to go get the Camel Book, or a fellow who 
shakes his head, throws up his arms and walks off.

   Of course, many of the best candidates for Perl are the one's who've
never had exposure to awk or sed, and never bothered to do much shell
programming.

   Don't get me wrong.  I still use awk and ksh when they are expedient
(which is fine - there's more than one way to do it), but I prefer to 
strengthen my Perl chops when I can.  I'm not taking full advantage of
Perl's resources yet, but have already gotten a heck of a lot out of it.

   Good luck with the recruiting.  Your willingness to spend time with the
new initiates will be a key to your success!

Cheerio!

Carter R. Bennett, Jr. - Scientist      No matter where you go...
carter@scilab.lonestar.org - home                 .../dev/tty!
carter@cmptrc.lonestar.org - work
KI5SR