Comment by hzhou321

Perl started with scripting, so many design philosophy are centered around scripting. Python, I think, is started with the goal of building applications. My first impression when I learned Python (around 2000) was the OOP nature of Python. Building classes and objects were least in my mind when scripting.

A few examples:

Perl (flexible/optional function call interface)

    print "hello world\n";

Python (the insistence of function call parenthesis)

    print("hello world")

Perl (direct string substitution thanks to sigils)

    print "Hello $name\n";

Python (a few formats, keep searching for the perfect ones)

    print("Hello %s\n" % name);

Perl (a core set of shell like patterns)

    if (!-d $dir) {
        mkdir $dir;
    }
    chdir $dir;
    foreach my $f (glob("*.txt")) {
        ...
    }

Python

    import os
    import glob
    # google for usages

Perl (good lexical scopes)

    if ($do_A) {
        my $x = "A";
        work_with($x);
    } else {
        my $x = "B";
        work_with($b);
    }

Python

    if do_A:
        x = "something" # did I changed x for somewhere else?
        ...

Perl (a set of defaults balacing the succinctness and readability)

    my %opts;
    while (<In>) {
        if (/(\w+):\s*(.+)/) {
            $opts{$1} = $2;
        }
    }

Python

    import ...
    ...
        m = re.match(r'...', line, re_flags)
        if m:
             opts[m.group(1)] = m.group(2)

Perl's philosophy is "There is more than one way to do it", pick the way that makes most sense to you.

Python's philosophy is "There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it", but obviousness is subjective to some, and for the rest, you need learn/search/train the "one" way.