[Info-vax] Python for x86?

[Arne Vajhøj]

On 4/12/2023 11:30 AM, Zane H. Healy wrote:
> Arne Vajh?j <arne at vajhoej.dk> wrote:
>> But it could also be an estimated effort problem. It is my impression
>> that Perl is evolving reasonable slowly and that the VMS port has
>> been rock solid for decades. And all versions has been build
>> for both Alpha and Itanium. That sort of make it easier to
>> port and know what is a source problem and what is a tool problem.
> 
> One thought I had, after reading the replies.  The technical reasons make
> sense.  However, in reality, might there not be more Perl code running on
> VMS than Python?  I know that on my personal servers I have a fair amount of
> Perl, but then I've spent over 26 years with Perl as my primary language.
> My interest in Python is that I am now doing things that require it, so
> being able to use it on VMS would be an advantage to me.

Maybe.

If we look at the IT industry over all then:
- Perl is a niche language known by the smart *nix nerds
   primarily used for admin scripting today (after having had
   some golden years in the late 90's early 00's for web
   development)
- Python is one of the top 3 languages - widely used for
   admin scripting, big data/data-analysis/ML/AI, web
   development (Django), education etc. etc.

But VMS is not like the overall IT industry.

A lot of VMS systems are old and from a time where
Perl was bigger than Python.

In traditional admin scripts for VMS there are
probably way more Perl than Python (DCL is still king
in this area despite its various gaps).

But there has also been done a lot of Python work on VMS
the last 15 years in the area of integration between
VMS applications and other stuff the companies are
running.

Arne