Is Python based on Perl?

The short answer to the question, "Is Python based on Perl?" is no. Python and Perl are two distinct programming languages with different design philosophies, syntax, and histories. Although they share some similarities typical of high-level scripting languages, Python is not derived from Perl, nor is it a direct extension or a fork of Perl.

Background and History

Perl was created by Larry Wall in 1987 with a focus on powerful text processing and system administration tasks. Its motto is "There's more than one way to do it" (TMTOWTDI), reflecting Perl's flexibility and often permissive syntax. Perl excels at string manipulation, regular expressions, and quick scripting solutions.

Python, on the other hand, was created by Guido van Rossum and first released in 1991 with a stronger emphasis on readability, simplicity, and explicit programming style. Python's philosophy is captured by the "Zen of Python," which prioritizes clarity and straightforwardness over the "do anything" approach of Perl.

Similarities and Key Differences

• Syntax: Perl uses a rich set of sigils like $, @, and % to distinguish scalars, arrays, and hashes, respectively. Python uses indentation and simpler syntax without sigils.
• Context: Perl is very context-sensitive (scalar vs list context), while Python generally avoids context-based behavior.
• Data Types: Perl's flexible typing and context sensitivity can be powerful but complex; Python uses explicit types and clear conversions.
• Community and Philosophy: Perl tends toward "trust the programmer" with many ways to do things; Python prefers explicit and readable code with one obvious way.

Influence vs. Direct Derivation

Python was influenced by languages like ABC, Modula-3, and C, and it incorporates ideas from various programming paradigms including object-oriented and functional programming. Perl is influenced by C, awk, sed, and shell scripting. While there may be some overlapping utility (particularly in scripting domains), Python and Perl evolved independently rather than one evolving out of the other.

Example Showing Perl vs Python Style

Here’s a simple example in Perl and the same task in Python for comparison. This example reads lines from standard input and prints them with line numbers.

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my $line_number = 1;
while (my $line = <STDIN>) {
    chomp($line);
    print "$line_number: $line\n";
    $line_number++;
}

And the equivalent Python code (for reference, not runnable here since this is PerlCode):

#!/usr/bin/env python3
line_number = 1
import sys

for line in sys.stdin:
    line = line.rstrip('\n')
    print(f"{line_number}: {line}")
    line_number += 1

Summary

• Python is not based on Perl; they are separate languages.
• Both were developed with different goals and syntax rules.
• Perl’s strength is complex text processing with flexibility, Python favors readability and simplicity.
• You can choose either depending on your project's needs and personal preference.

Understanding these differences helps you appreciate each language’s unique strengths and why one is not based on the other, despite some superficial overlap as general-purpose scripting languages.