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by GrumpySloth 858 days ago
Perl is installed by default on most Unix systems. FreeBSD being the exception. Python isn’t. Although Python is popular; if we’re comparing the probability of someone having the interpreter installed already, it’s greater for Perl, even if people aren’t aware they already have it.
2 comments
dgfitz 858 days ago
> Perl is installed by default on most Unix systems. FreeBSD being the exception. Python isn’t.

Most all “Linux” cannot even boot without python, and it is quite easy to find a minimal Linux distribution that does not have a dependency on Perl.

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GrumpySloth 858 days ago
Care to give any examples of Linux distros without Perl?
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SOLAR_FIELDS 858 days ago
Though one would probably never be able to work with an assumed install of Python anyway because one would not be able to assume a specific version. I am guessing this is a lesser problem for Perl, since it’s been frozen at some version of 5 for the past 25-30 years correct?
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neuromanser 858 days ago
Incorrect. Perl (5.x) has seen 10 stable releases in as many years, IOW since 2014.
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