Re:Next steps for Rust in the kernel
by singhrac on Wednesday September 21, 2022 @01:08PM
(#32928121)
I’ve worked on a Perl codebase written by a good programmer and had the pleasure of starting the port over to Python.
This was surprisingly doable? Marshaling/unmarshaling Perl objects into Python ones isn’t difficult these days, and you can run Perl code via FFI so the transition can be piecemeal.
I have no opinions on Perl as a language (some constructs / patterns felt a bit hard to think about, but I’m far from an expert), but ultimately it’s a high level language and has been left behind tooling wise to another high level language, so it’s time to move. For us, one motivator was that having a large legacy Perl codebase (even one running well for years) hurt recruiting.
This was surprisingly doable? Marshaling/unmarshaling Perl objects into Python ones isn’t difficult these days, and you can run Perl code via FFI so the transition can be piecemeal.
I have no opinions on Perl as a language (some constructs / patterns felt a bit hard to think about, but I’m far from an expert), but ultimately it’s a high level language and has been left behind tooling wise to another high level language, so it’s time to move. For us, one motivator was that having a large legacy Perl codebase (even one running well for years) hurt recruiting.