Jon Udell: Perl http://radio.weblogs.com/0100887/categories/perl/ Copyright 2002 Jon Udell Thu, 11 Jul 2002 13:28:24 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss092 7/11/2002; 9:26:31 AM XSH: A Perl viewing/editing shell for XML http://radio.weblogs.com/0100887/categories/perl/2002/07/11.html#a336 <FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>Kimbro Staken was intrigued by XSH, a Perl viewing/editing shell for XML:</FONT> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <P><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>In this month's Perl and XML column, Kip Hampton introduces XSH, an XML editing shell, which Kip suggests should become a part of your XML tool kit. [</FONT></EM><A href="http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/07/10/kip.html"><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>XML.com</FONT></EM></A><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>]&nbsp; </FONT></EM> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <P><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>At first glance it seems like a pretty odd concept, but I think this should actually be really useful. As an interactive tool it's kind of interesting, but the very interesting thing is that you can use it to build executable scripts to manipulate XML in a pretty simple manner. Apparently it supports </FONT></EM><A href="http://www.xupdate.com/"><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>XUpdate</FONT></EM></A><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2> too, which is a surprise. Not sure why it does given the much more compact language it provides to do the same things. [</FONT></EM><A href="http://www.xmldatabases.org/radio/xmlDatabases/"><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>Kimbro Staken: XML Database JuJu</FONT></EM></A><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>]</FONT></EM> <b>...</b> <P dir=ltr><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>Kimbro Staken was intrigued by XSH, a Perl viewing/editing shell for XML:</FONT> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <P><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>In this month's Perl and XML column, Kip Hampton introduces XSH, an XML editing shell, which Kip suggests should become a part of your XML tool kit. [</FONT></EM><A href="http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/07/10/kip.html"><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>XML.com</FONT></EM></A><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>]&nbsp; </FONT></EM> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <P><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>At first glance it seems like a pretty odd concept, but I think this should actually be really useful. As an interactive tool it's kind of interesting, but the very interesting thing is that you can use it to build executable scripts to manipulate XML in a pretty simple manner. Apparently it supports </FONT></EM><A href="http://www.xupdate.com/"><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>XUpdate</FONT></EM></A><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2> too, which is a surprise. Not sure why it does given the much more compact language it provides to do the same things. [</FONT></EM><A href="http://www.xmldatabases.org/radio/xmlDatabases/"><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>Kimbro Staken: XML Database JuJu</FONT></EM></A><EM><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>]</FONT></EM></P></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE> <P dir=ltr><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>I'm intrigued also. This looks like the </FONT><A href="http://www.firstsql.com/iodbc/"><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>iODBC</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2> of XML, an ancient tool that </FONT><A href="http://www.jepstone.net/radio/"><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>Brian Jepson</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2> and I found, when comparing notes recently, we still use.</FONT></P> Kimbro Staken: XML Database JuJu 4/1/2002; 11:05:19 AM XML::Simpler released to CPAN http://radio.weblogs.com/0100887/categories/perl/2002/04/01.html#a162 <FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>Grant McClean has made the popular </FONT><A href="http://web.co.nz/~grantm/cpan/"><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>XML::Simple</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2> even simpler. From the </FONT><A href="http://search.cpan.org/doc/GRANTM/XML-Simpler-1.00/Simpler.pm"><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>XML::Simpler documentation</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>:</FONT> <b>...</b> <P dir=ltr><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>Grant McClean has made the popular </FONT><A href="http://web.co.nz/~grantm/cpan/"><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>XML::Simple</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2> even simpler. From the </FONT><A href="http://search.cpan.org/doc/GRANTM/XML-Simpler-1.00/Simpler.pm"><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>XML::Simpler documentation</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>:</FONT></P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <P dir=ltr><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif><FONT size=2><EM>T</EM><EM>he data structures returned by XMLin() have been vastly simplified.&nbsp; All hashrefs and arrayrefs have been eliminated, and instead the contents of the XML file are represented using a single scalar value which perfectly preserves the fidelity of the original document.&nbsp; In fact the format of this data structure is so intuitive that new users will be able to work with it immediately without reading the documentation.</EM></FONT></FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P dir=ltr><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>Thanks, Grant!</FONT></P> 3/24/2002; 8:49:42 PM Cross-platform coffee cups http://radio.weblogs.com/0100887/categories/perl/2002/03/24.html#a152 <FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif>Years ago I </FONT><A href="http://www.ahref.com/guides/industry/199809/0914piou4.html"><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif>evangelized</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif> the notion of a local scripting engine, serving web apps up into the browser. I thought then, and still think now, this is the biggest untapped opportunity for Perl and Python and Ruby. </FONT> <b>...</b> <P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif>Years ago I </FONT><A href="http://www.ahref.com/guides/industry/199809/0914piou4.html"><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif>evangelized</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif> the notion of a local scripting engine, serving web apps up into the browser. I thought then, and still think now, this is the biggest untapped opportunity for Perl and Python and Ruby. </FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif>Perhaps now that&nbsp;Radio UserLand&nbsp;has broken the ice, the&nbsp;idea of a&nbsp;script-based local app server will gain more traction. DJ Adams, who&nbsp;uses Linux and so can't be an RU user, was intrigued by the channelroll idea. So he grabbed Rael Dornfest's </FONT><A href="http://www.oreillynet.com/~rael/lang/python/peerkat/"><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif>Peerkat</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif>&nbsp; and whipped up, in Perl, </FONT><A href="http://www.pipetree.com/testwiki/5335"><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif>an app</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif> that responds to clicks on a Radio-style coffe-cup icon by injecting the specified RSS feed into an instance of Peerkat.</FONT></P> <P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif>Very cool. RU is a lively experiment, but the publish/subscribe technology that is part of what makes RU so compelling is not, and should not be, application-specific. DJ is somebody I'll want to subscribe to, and who I'll want to subscribe to me. How we accomplish that is really beside the point.</FONT></P> 3/15/2002; 1:08:32 PM JavaScript, Perl, Python, .NET http://radio.weblogs.com/0100887/categories/perl/2002/03/15.html#a140 <FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>Peter Drayton on JS.NET:</FONT> <b>...</b> <P dir=ltr><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>Peter Drayton on JS.NET:</FONT></P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <P dir=ltr><EM><FONT face=Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif size=2>&gt; I believe there is a market for a language much simpler than VB.NET.</FONT></EM></P> <P><EM><FONT face=Geneva,Arial,Sans-Serif size=2>For this, I suggest JScript.NET, which is also included in the .NET Framework. The funny thing is, while JScript is a relatively simple language, the JScript.NET compiler is actually very sophisticated, since it has to support late binding, prototype classes, typed and typeless variables, dynamic evaluation and a slew of other 'scripting' features. Basically the compiler does all the requisite magic to present a very friendly, simple face to programmers, while doing all the underlying goo needed to make these semantics work in the CLR. [<A href="http://www.razorsoft.net/weblog/2002/03/11.html#a50">Peter Drayton</A>]</FONT></EM></P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P dir=ltr><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif size=2>I just&nbsp;tried Peter's example:</FONT></P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <P dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><PRE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><FONT size=2>var query = new ActiveXObject("IXSSO.Query"); <BR>query.Columns = "directory,filename"; <BR>query.Query = "@filename=*.txt"; <BR>query.Catalog = "System"; <BR>var rs = query.CreateRecordSet("sequential"); <BR>while (!rs.EOF) { <BR>&nbsp; print(rs(0)+ "</FONT>"\\" + rs(1)); <BR>&nbsp; rs.MoveNext; <BR>}</FONT></PRE> <P></P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><FONT face=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif>Interesting. Could the same principles bring this <A href="http://www.activestate.com/Initiatives/NET/Research.html">Perl/Python</A> research to fruition?</FONT></P></FONT> 3/8/2002; 8:51:43 PM http://radio.weblogs.com/0100887/categories/perl/2002/03/08.html#a120 <A href="http://www.linux-mag.com/cgi-bin/r?m=r23&amp;u=23/perl_01.html">Perl Of Wisdom, by Randal Schwartz</A>&nbsp; <b>...</b> <P><A href="http://www.linux-mag.com/cgi-bin/r?m=r23&amp;u=23/perl_01.html">Perl Of Wisdom, by Randal Schwartz</A>&nbsp;</P> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <P><EM>Finding Files Incrementally [</EM><A href="http://www.linux-mag.com/"><EM>Linux Magazine</EM></A><EM>]</EM></P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Whenever I need to refresh my understanding of tied hashtables, I'll look here.</P> Linux Magazine 1/23/2002; 4:06:27 PM http://radio.weblogs.com/0100887/categories/perl/2002/01/23.html#a37 <b>...</b> Randal Schwartz's <A href="http://www.linux-mag.com/2001-11/perl_01.html">incremental file finder</A>. A very nice tutorial on how (and why) to use Perl's tied hash feature.