The future of PERL and of DHTML

Hallo,

I have studied in the past 3 years html and JavaScript. You might wonder=20
why 3 years but if you consider I had no teacher and I never met concepts=20
like booleans, conditional expressions and loops before, not to mention all=
=20
the tricks and workarounds and the apparently strange things (which are=20
not, on second thoughts: let's take this: you pass an argument to a=20
function in javascript: you pass the value of the filed like "this.value".=
=20
Well, not always it is clear that in this way you're passing the value, but=
=20
not the object field. I found this strange thing: if you pass this.value=20
and your function updates the value, the value gets not displayed. If you=20
pass "this" and in the function body you set argumentName.value, there we=20
go and the value gets upadted. I'm figuring out there must be some subtle=20
difference between passing a value or an object... but enough of this): so=
=20
I bet 3 years is fair for one who was an absolute beginner.

I'm now facing two major questions I'd like to get feedback from an=20
experienced forum like this.
1] DHTML: is it worth while?
There is a sentence of mine which goes "Dhtml is dead and who killed it was=
=20
Netscape". The new NN6 DOM introduces syntax, partially borrowed by Xml=20
methinks, like getElementById("name") that even Dynamicdrive qulified as=20
"come from mars". Now I wonder: would you be surprised if in a curriculum a=
=20
programmer would add: I won't program Dhtml for this and that reason...?
I mean: we already had to make branching to make IE and NN saitisfied, and=
=20
it was not all: we also had to take care of workarounds and bugs or=20
inconsistencies. W3C reccomandation has been made shambles, mostly by=20
netscape, unfortunately. Now we'd be supposed to write a brand new code for=
=20
Nn6 too: would qualified programmers like the ones in this list find fair=20
that a programmer had to spend nights over lines of codes or books to study=
=20
or implement a language which appears like being a non-language, a=20
pout-pourri of missed compliances or arbitrary Doms?

2] I must tackle a server side language now, obviously. I faced 3 options:=
=20
ASP, PERL, PHP.
I elected to study PERL.
Would you find necessary for a programmer to know more than one server side=
=20
languages, or maybe even all of them? When I meet those requirements asked=
=20
by some job offers like "wide knowledge of C/C++, java, Visual basic,=20
Dhtml, javaScript, XML, Perl, ASP" I'm a bit baffled: I mean: are they=20
looking for HUMANS???

I thought that after all PERL works everywhere, while ASP only on windows=20
platform and Php apperas as being specific of some unix flavors. Perl just=
=20
need an interpreter, and I figured out, hey guys, what kind of server would=
=20
be the server which supports ASP or PHP but provides no PERL interpreter?
Correct assumption?
So I thought that by learning Perl I'm going multi-pltform more evenly than=
=20
by learning Php, let alone ASP!

Am I correct here, or should I quit Perl? I bet that Perl is like diamonds=
=20
on server side: it is forever.
Right assumption, or accordingly to your experiences or professional=20
forecasts you'd guess perl is going to fade and disappear (no hints about=20
such a thing actually, but I wanna be pretty prudent before going much=20
deeper into its syntax - which now should take just a few months: after=20
all, I'm already familiar with about 50% of the concepts, I just have to=20
switch syntaxs to some degree).

It 's a bit long but I do hope some of my questions might be also of more=20
general interest.
One last thing: HWG is by far not the best, but actually the only really=20
working and instructive mailing list in the whole of the world: I=20
subscribed to many, on onelist, or also on italian sites (I'm italian) and=
=20
I must say: shame to them, and to the owners running them! HWG's much=20
better! But that's another story.

PS what the hack is the "3D" thing I find interpolated in almost any script=
=20
sent through the list? Uhm...
And also let the last arrived conquer your antipathy: please edit your=20
messages!! eheh!

Alberto.=B7.Vallini  - vallinis(at)yahoo.com
http://www.geocities.com/earthalliances/
"when everything else fails, sleep"


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