Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 11:44:28 -0700 (PDT) From: Eli Scott <sp0rkmail@brainguts.no-ip.com> To: Paul Chvostek <paul+fbsd@it.ca> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: RMS says: "Use BSD, for goodness sake!" Message-ID: <20030626113310.S81431@brainguts.no-ip.com> In-Reply-To: <20030626152034.GA38756@mail.it.ca> References: <4.3.2.7.2.20030625214311.00e5e240@localhost> <20030626010357.J508@hub.org><20030626113553.GA53078@packet.org.uk> <20030626152034.GA38756@mail.it.ca>
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Reguarding AWK - I work at a university in the Environmental Science department. I'm working on a project right now regaurding stream flow and nitrate flushing. over 90% of the programs we use to process streamflow records are written in AWK, and it definately is useful beyond filtering columns. This might be just my boss' preference in language, but I have tried to reimplement the programs in python, or even make more powerful versions in C/C++, and AWK always ends up being the most efficient tool with the fastest development time. So, yes, AWK is used beyond column filtering. And...if it's dropped from FreeBSD, I'll have to go back to using Solaris. I don't want to go back to using Solaris. I don't admin the Solaris machine...its mucky! -Eli On Thu, 26 Jun 2003, Paul Chvostek wrote: > On Thu, Jun 26, 2003 at 12:35:53PM +0100, Peter McGarvey wrote: > > > > Does anyone actually USE awk? > > > > Other than to filter columns that is. > > Unless it's absolutely vital to use something else, yes. Awk has been > around forever, and behaves in a more predictable and consistent fashion > even than perl (due at least in part to the smaller toolset it offers). > > http://www.it.ca/software/pmlw is an example of something that goes > beyond just filtering columns. I've written many things over the years > that were perfectly acceptable in awk even though they would have been > equally function in perl. > > My main (though possibly obsolete) reason: > > # uname -sr > FreeBSD 4.8-RC > # ls -l /usr/bin/awk /usr/lib/libperl.so.3 > -r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 160368 May 15 15:39 /usr/bin/awk > -r--r--r-- 1 root wheel 661096 May 15 15:40 /usr/lib/libperl.so.3 > > -- > Paul Chvostek <paul@it.ca> > Operations / Abuse / Whatever > it.canada, hosting and development http://www.it.ca/ > > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-chat@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-chat > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-chat-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" >
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