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GNU M4 VS Perl

Compare GNU M4 VS Perl and see what are their differences

GNU M4 logo GNU M4

GNU M4 is an implementation of the m4 macro preprocessor.

Perl logo Perl

Highly capable, feature-rich programming language with over 26 years of development
  • GNU M4 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-12
  • Perl Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-21

We recommend LibHunt Perl for discovery and comparisons of trending Perl projects.

GNU M4 features and specs

  • Portability
    GNU M4 is highly portable and can run on almost any Unix-like operating system, which makes it versatile for various environments.
  • Macro Capabilities
    It offers powerful macro processing features that are useful for a wide range of text processing tasks, such as configuring scripts, code generation, and templating.
  • Simplicity
    M4 is relatively simple to use for basic macro processing tasks, which makes it accessible to new users and suitable for straightforward applications.
  • Integration
    GNU M4 often integrates well with other tools and scripts, making it a useful component in build systems and automated workflows.

Possible disadvantages of GNU M4

  • Limited Built-in Functions
    Compared to more modern scripting languages, M4 lacks a wide range of built-in functions and features, which may limit its use for more complex tasks.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    While simple tasks are easy to set up, mastering M4 for more advanced uses can require a deeper understanding of its syntax and capabilities.
  • Debugging Difficulty
    Debugging macros in M4 can be challenging, especially for large scripts, due to the lack of advanced debugging tools and support.
  • Performance Considerations
    For very large and complex scripts, performance may become an issue, as M4 is not optimized for handling large-scale data manipulation compared to more modern alternatives.

Perl features and specs

  • Text Processing Power
    Perl is renowned for its strong text processing capabilities, making it ideal for scripting and automating tasks involving text manipulation.
  • Mature Ecosystem
    Having been in existence since 1987, Perl boasts a robust ecosystem with a vast array of libraries and modules, easily accessible via CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network).
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Perl is highly portable, running on almost any operating system, which provides flexibility in deployment and development.
  • Community Support
    Perl has a long-standing and active community, providing extensive documentation, tutorials, and forums for support.
  • Flexibility
    Perl allows developers to write code in various styles (procedural, object-oriented, functional), giving them the freedom to choose the best approach for the task at hand.

Possible disadvantages of Perl

  • Readability Issues
    Perl's syntax is often criticized for being complex and difficult to read, especially for beginners or for those maintaining legacy code.
  • Declining Popularity
    Despite its strengths, Perl's popularity has waned over the years with the rise of newer languages like Python and Ruby, leading to fewer new developers and projects in Perl.
  • Performance
    While Perl is efficient for scripting and text processing, it may not perform as well as other languages in tasks requiring high computational speed or resource efficiency.
  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to its intricate syntax and the flexibility that comes with 'There's more than one way to do it' (TMTOWTDI) philosophy, beginners might find Perl challenging to master.
  • Outdated Perception
    Perl suffers from an outdated perception among some segments of the programming community, leading to its decreased adoption for new projects.

GNU M4 videos

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Perl videos

CARPRO PERL REVIEW ON TIRES!!! FANTASTIC PRODUCT!! MULTIPLE USES! WINNER IN MY BOOK!

More videos:

  • Review - CarPro PERL Application & Durability | Auto Fanatic
  • Review - Obsessed Garage TIRE DRESSING : Better than CarPro PERL or Chemical Guys VRP?

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GNU M4 and Perl)
Programming Language
25 25%
75% 75
OOP
26 26%
74% 74
Note Taking
100 100%
0% 0
Generic Programming Language

User comments

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Reviews

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Perl Reviews

Top 5 Most Liked and Hated Programming Languages of 2022
Perl is yet another complex language to learn. Though this programming language caters to a wide range of applications prototyping, large-scale projects, text control, system administration, web development, and network programming, the very fact that it is on the complex side to deal with makes it one of the most hated programming languages.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Perl seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 5 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

GNU M4 mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of GNU M4 yet. Tracking of GNU M4 recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Perl mentions (5)

  • CamelFace
    But what would be a better symbol? I just saw, that perl.org also has a littel camel face on the site :-). Source: almost 2 years ago
  • What are your coolest tools for one-liners ?
    And just while I wrote this I saw this on perl.org which may be an interesting read (although I prefer writing some things in Bash despite being a 20 year+ perl user). Source: over 2 years ago
  • Precedence
    I'm going through the textbook "Beginning Perl" located at perl.org, and I'm having a confuse with one of the example questions. I'm supposed to determine the order of operations for 26 + 3 ^ 4 * 2. According to the precedence table in the textbook, + and * come before ^. So I think the answer should be ((26 + 3) ^ (4 * 2)), but the book says the answer is 26 + (3 ^ (4 * 2)). Can anyone help me figure out what... Source: almost 3 years ago
  • How to run/debug perl from Vs:code
    See "A regularly updated compendium of Perl IDEs to be hosted on perl.org" at https://grants.perlfoundation.org/. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Perling and Curling
    Use Net::Curl::Easier; Use Net::Curl::Promiser::Mojo; Use Mojo::Promise; My $easy1 = Net::Curl::Easier->new( url => 'http://perl.org', followlocation => 1, ); My $easy2 = Net::Curl::Easier->new( username => 'hal', userpwd => 'itsasecret', url => 'imap://mail.example.com/INBOX/;UID=123', ); My $easy3 = Net::Curl::Easier->new( username => 'hal', userpwd => 'itsasecret', url =>... - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing GNU M4 and Perl, you can also consider the following products

GCC C Preprocessor (cpp) - Top (The C Preprocessor)

Python - Python is a clear and powerful object-oriented programming language, comparable to Perl, Ruby, Scheme, or Java.

PP - A generic Preprocessor - P is a text preprocessor designed for Pandoc (and more generally Markdown and reStructuredText).

C++ - Has imperative, object-oriented and generic programming features, while also providing the facilities for low level memory manipulation

GPP - GPP is a general-purpose preprocessor with customizable syntax, suitable for a wide range of...

Go Programming Language - Go, also called golang, is a programming language initially developed at Google in 2007 by Robert...