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Perl on Windows use cases

gabor on 2008-11-26T07:20:51

It seems most of the Perl developers are using some Unix flavor (including Linux, *BSD and even Mac) so I might not get many responses. Still I'd like to have an idea What do you use Perl for on Windows?

In addition I'd like to know what is the single biggest thing you are missing from Perl on Windows?

Windows is my "main system"

reneeb on 2008-11-26T08:02:19

As Windows is my "main system" I use it for many various things. (uncomplete list)

* automated backups of several websites (this is I wrote WWW::ConfixxBackup for)
* programming (using Kephra)
* PDF generation
* my last project I did for SAP runs on Windows (and IIS)
* many other things

I run Linux but ...

grantm on 2008-11-26T08:51:04

... the Windows machine in our house has a Perl script set up as a daily scheduled task which uses WWW::Mechanize to log into our library web site and check for loans falling due soon.

The same machine has a relatively complex web app on it (for local use) that uses Apache+mod_perl+TT2+SQLite. I'd tell you what it does but it would bring back unhappy memories and I might have to kill someone.

I have used ActiveState's PerlEx under IIS for building web apps on Windows but Apache/mod_perl is much easier for that sort of thing.

I've also done a little bit of work with Win32::OLE to script MSOffice and hook up Excel to unusual data sources.

I am pure linux, but . . .

jeremiah on 2008-11-26T09:21:30

when I do testing sometimes I need to test on a Windows machine for a client. And while it is fine for me to install Virtualbox and run debian, I need to access the Windows internals.

For this I usually install Cygwin, but recently decided to use Strawberry perl too. I am impressed with Strawberry, it seems to have everything I need. But it creates a bit of confusion for scripts since the Cygwin perl and Strawberry do not know about each other. I would like to see that better integrated, in @INC for example.

I don't normally use and IDE, unless you consider the emacs operating system and IDE, but I have been using padre on Windows as well as helping to get it into debian! ;) I like padre, I wish it would be more obvious which window does what when it starts, hard to tell because on Windows it opens as a little square with three other little squares inside. But once you get it going it is quite useful, thanks for creating that Gabor.

Re:I am pure linux, but . . .

Alias on 2008-11-26T11:13:51

I believe I checked in a fix for the bad default size some time just before 0.18...

Perl on Windows can do a lot

Mithaldu on 2008-11-26T11:50:04

I use Windows for anything Desktop and as a development platform for anything Perl i do. For a while i was mostly using cygwin, but that has since been superceded by ActivePerl with Komodo IDE (includes a graphical debugger with Windows use patterns).

So far I've done anything on Windows: XML conversion, translation data analysis, RSS feed construction, FTP checking, smallish web applications, etc.

Recently though I've started working on a bigger project, which is an OpenGL application that visualizes the internal 3d data of a text-mode game. Aside from OpenGL it uses parts from all over the Windows API, as it grabs the internal data from the RAM while the game process is running. URL for it is http://dwarvis.googlecode.com/

The only thing i am REALLY missing is a solid line-profiler, as any current profilers are either subroutine-based (which is useless as big parts of Dwarvis run in Coroutine loops), get confused by my use of Perl threads or by the Coro pseudo threads.

Re:Perl on Windows can do a lot

jplindstrom on 2008-11-26T13:38:39

Have you tried SmallProf?

It's line based and worked on Windows last time I tried it (years ago).

Re:Perl on Windows can do a lot

Mithaldu on 2008-11-26T13:50:19

Interesting. Apparently the latest updates to OpenGL enabled this one to work. It runs hilariously slow, but should still provide some useful data. Thanks! :)

Re:Perl on Windows can do a lot

Alias on 2008-11-27T01:09:02

NYTProf added Win32 support just this month.

Perl on Windows

tokpela on 2008-11-26T14:28:31

My company uses mainly Windows so most of my development is on Windows.

The programs that I have written with Perl are quite demanding and run well, consistently with good stability. By demanding I mean that they run 24/7 and process tens of thousands of files per week. These are production applications that are mission-critical for the business.

Perl's stability combined with my ability to rapidly adapt my code has been a good selling point for continuing to write Perl in my company even though they write ASP, VB and some C# for everything else.

Some of the things I have done with Perl include (in no particular order except my random memory):

  • Lots of Oracle database use
  • Lots of text parsing
  • Reading and writing Excel files
  • Lots of CSV file parsing
  • Connecting to various external sites using FTP, SFTP, HTTP(S)
  • Connecting to Exchange to parse Outlook folders and messages
  • Sending templated emails (to a list) using MIME::Lite and Template Toolkit (and Oracle)
  • Validating XML files
  • Validating PDF files
  • Creating Windows services
  • Processing directories of files
  • Using mod_perl for Web-based configuration setting
  • EDI file processing

Let me know if you need any more information or have any other questions on what I do.

I need to add that I **really** appreciate the Perl community for allowing me to stand on the shoulders of GIANTS. Without all of the wonderful people who contribute to Perl, Parrot, CPAN and the community at large, I would probably not be programming (no fun without Perl). You are indispensible. A BIG thank you!

It varies

Mr. Muskrat on 2008-11-26T15:30:07

What's missing? I don't know. I haven't found anything yet that wouldn't install. (In recent versions of Strawberry Perl that is.)

At work I have a Windows XP laptop. Most of my work is done on a Linux system via ssh. However, it does have Strawberry Perl installed. I have one script that I use often that interacts with MS Outlook. Other than that, I play around with things like Padre.

A few years back I had lots of scripts that I ran in order to make my job easier. (Generating Excel based reports from a MySQL database, mapping routes for drivers, adding items to a MySQL database via barcode look up, etc)

At home I run Linux on my PC and the laptop that our kids use daily. My wife's laptop runs Windows. She asked me install one of the scripts that I use daily at home so I guess that it is safe to say that I also use it for extracting URLs from email and opening them in a browser.

Everything

stro on 2008-11-26T17:08:08

There are 14,068 CPAN distributions with at least one PASS grade for Perl 5.8.8. Also, about 13,000 distributions are available as PPM packages. So, Perl on Windows can do almost all the same as Perl on Unix. With Cygwin, I bet exactly the same.

I've been using Windows as primary development platform during last 7.5 years (with Linux, AIX, FreeBSD and Windows as target platforms) and didn't find any _vital_ thing that doesn't work in Windows environment.
Moreover, having different systems for development and production quickly teaches developer to think cross-platform.