Comments on: Popularity vs Productivity vs Performance

By: Kyle Hailey

Kyle Hailey — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 17:31:27 +0000

@David: thanks for the pointers on using Perl for Oracle !

By: David Mann

David Mann — Sat, 10 Aug 2013 17:44:05 +0000

If developing something on the server side I usually piggyback on the Perl installation included with Oracle… I believe since 10g I have been able to get this to work. After locating the path to the perl bin… usually something like /u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0.3/perl/bin/perl …

First update your paths to include the perl bin and lib directories. Also can be set in a shell script if you don’t want to pollute your .profile or .bashrc with odd paths.

Then modify your script with an ugly shebang line like this and let it fly. It should find DBI from that default perl installation.
#!/u01/app/oracle/product/10.2.0.3/perl/bin/perl -w

I wrote a blog post on this years ago (and piggybacking on MOD_PERL) for 10g but need to try on 11gR2 and 12c to make sure it is still applicable. I guess I was leveraging the DBConsole install that came with 10g databases. Not sure that is still a good assumption.

By: Kyle Hailey

Kyle Hailey — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 18:24:20 +0000

@David. thanks for the comments and stopping by. Yes, the Python vs Java syntax makes me wince as well. I never hit it off with Java. Python on the other hand I found easy and actually did my only production coding. I prototype a lot and have tried Java but it’s certainly not a prototyping language though I understand the advantages for some enterprise level projects.
I can’t say I like perl. I use it a lot because its almost ubiquitous these days and gets me what I want fast. I as well have issues with the DBI/DBD install issues and have actually avoided using Perl for Oracle access. Oracle access is an example where Java is much easier,ie getting the database drivers up and working.

By: David Mann

David Mann — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 14:14:45 +0000

I winced when I saw the Python vs Java syntax comparison. Java really is the Cobol of our century. Oh to be that expressive!

I struggle with language choice often. I want to make tools that are easy to install, easy to use, easy to maintain, and portable. Java (and JVM compatible languages) allows me to cover the portability. The installation is the biggie. It is nice to be able to package up my Java classes, add a JDBC .jar and be on my way. But the Java code can be daunting even for doing some seemingly simple things.

Perl is my favorite for knocking stuff out for myself but installation of DBI/DBD for database access can be a pain on some systems. I have had repeatable success with Strawberry Perl distribution in the PC environment though.

I even went through a period where I was following Charles Hooper’s examples of using vbScript in an IE browser to talk directly to Oracle. Useful for small things but could become a maintenance nightmare really quick.