An Anonymous Coward with thoughts of rapid CGI deployment, asks: "My manager has asked me for something that would show the differences in development time between ASP/VBScript and CGI/Perl. He is trying to gauge time schedules for web projects, but I don't have a clue as to where such information would be documented. I am familiar with both architectures and know the differences, but I think he's hoping for white papers of comparisons. Can anyone tell me where to look?"

DonJ writes: "This is a good article that explains a lot about how Perl can play a big part in developing Web Services. It will show you a no-nonsense approach to using SOAP::Lite, Perl's window into SOAP Web services. The Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is the basic messaging protocol for Web services, so this is a need to know."

Adam Attarian writes "And do we really need to answer the question? Apparently so, because OSOpinion asked, and they got an answer. It's not a surprising answer, is Mac OS X's 'UNIX' core is Darwin, which is based on NeXT Step, which is based on some wacky derivitive of BSD, which in itself isn't a registered UNIX system (nor is Linux). Even with this, I'm not sure I know too many people who would directly compare Linux/BSD with standard UNIX Systems like Irix, Solaris, etc. The article is short and sweet, and provides some good links."

duffbeer703 asks: "I'm a computer consultant who is currently working on a project to enhance computing and network resources in Central Asian universities. One of the problems that we have encountered is a lack of documentation and manuals written in local dialects. Most of these countries (Kazakstan, Tadjikistan, Mongolia) were former Soviet republics and have signifigant numbers of people who speak Russian or English. Other, more remote scohols primarily speak local languages. Does anyone know of places that reprint technical books (mainly C, Perl, Unix and TCP/IP) into less-common languages?"

Larry Wall has written the second article in his "Apocalypse" series about Perl6. If you missed the first article, you might want to read that one first, or see the previous discussion.

MadCow42 asks: "Back in 1996, I created a point-and-click Virtual Tour of my apartment, and updated it a few times over the years. I ended up with 180 separate hand-written HTML pages, and a pretty cool tour, which won many web awards. The problem is, hand-coded individual pages are not very efficient (or exciting) way to present such a thing, today. When I started out, it was pretty unique and exciting, but now I'd like to create a new tour that is much more dynamic and 'fluid'. Having my own webserver, I am thinking of doing it mostly through Perl CGI scripting and a database. Are there any 'Virtual Tour Toolkits' out there? If I created one, would others be interested in it? I'd hate to reinvent the wheel, but if I do, I'd like any feedback as to how to most efficiently design for such a 'walk-through' system so that it is quick and complete."

Yesterday in a toasty courtroom in lower Manhattan, Stanford Law School dean Kathleen Sullivan faced off against lawyers for the world's biggest movie companies and a lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department with oral arguments in the appeal of the 2600 case. One of the three judges hearing the case -- Jon Newman -- appeared to be the designated questioner. He asked nearly all of the questions in both this case and the ones heard earlier in the day. He probed both sides about equally, trying to find flaws in the arguments of whoever was speaking at the time. I'll cover the hearing below, and there's possibly a few areas where the Slashdot crowd could assist in the case.

A reader writes: "SAP has released full source of their sapdb sql database system under the GPL. It can be found at http://www.sap.com/solutions/technology/sapdb/deve lop/dev_sources.htm It's probably the most complete free database system available right now, with much more features than interbase, mysql or postgresql. The codebase seems to be rather old and is written in a mix of Pascal and C. It contains interfaces to Perl and various languages."

For those inundated with data -- numbers, names, dates, temperatures, colors, seismographic sensor output, voting records(!), or anything else -- the paltry concerns of user interface may be less important than the assurance that they can make something useful from all that stuff. Data munger extraordinaire chromatic has again delivered his insightful dissection of a programming book aimed at people with Perl knowledge and a lot of data to wade through, and No, it's not from O'Reilly. Maybe it's for you.

Gather round kids and let me tell you a story. A story of "Convergence": a nasty buzzword many of us have dreampt of in hot lusty dreams that we wouldn't admit to our mothers. The dream is the borged media box: combining the functionality of your Tivo, your MP3 Box, DVD Player, CD Player, and so much more. It's not here yet despite lots of trying, but its getting closer.

Carnage4Life asks: "After continually being surprised by the evolution of various programming languages (the most recent occurances being the change in meaning of the protected keyword in Java, as well as the addition of the restricted keyword in C) I've decided that I wish to get involved in the standards process for a variety of languages. This has proven to be easier said than done. So how does one get involved in the standards process for a particular language, be it C#, Javascript, Perl, C++, Java, C, Python, or any other language? I know each of these languages probably has a different process so please feel free simply to point out how to get involved in the languages you have knowledge about." Interesting question, but I think the best advice to fall back on is: "ask around". Most compilers and interpreters at least have the author's email address or a mailing list where these can be directed. With that said, has anyone done this for a specific language? If so, please tell us of your experiences.

Sean writes "Take a look at this comparison of Server-side scripting languages. The article explains how PHP scripts, Perl CGIs, and Java servlets work. It can help you decide whether to use PHP scripts, Perl CGIs, or Java servlets for your next Web development project. It also covers the issues that separate the three languages and provides all the source to test their differences." Right tool, right situation. That's all I have to say.

PapaZit asks: "Laptop and home users don't alway have access to a network. There are many tasks that can be done off-line, but require an occasional network connection (reading and responding to email, for example). In the Free Unix front, there has been some work in this direction, but it hasn't made it anywhere outside of Windows. Coda has made it possible for me to work with centralized files offline, and I have some ugly scripts involving perl, fetchmail, and procmail that handle email, but I wouldn't inflict them on others. An OS with automated "Network indifference" seems like it would be useful to both novice users and power users, and it's the sort of thing that could make these alternative operating systems more appealing to the masses. Are there any efforts in this direction that could use support or testers? Are people waiting until networking becomes so ubiquitous that the problem goes away?"

Here you go - answers to your questions for Guido van Rossum about Python, its future, licensing hassles with the Free Software Foundation, and other neat stuff. Thanks, Guido!

Black Perl asks: "I am planning a home automation (HA) system for a new yet-to-be-built house, and would like to have in-wall touchscreens in key areas around the house. However, the touchscreens in current HA products have ugly interfaces. Being a web developer, I know I could do a much better job if these ran web browsers in kiosk mode. Problem is, how can I accomplish that? Embed a PC in the wall next to the screen? Are there ways to extend video+input cables down to a rack in the basement? Any other ideas?" Interesting idea, and more aesthetically pleasing than the more traditional alternatives. Maybe some of the solutions, mentioned in this earlier question on LCD screens, may be a step in the right direction.

While Ruby isn't new, it's one scripting-and-everything else language which has yet to break out (in the U.S. at least) the way Perl and Python have. Chromatic may help buck that non-trend -- he says that Ruby is one polished gem of a language, and below he introduces a book on Ruby that he compares in importance with the O'Reilly Camel book.

Updates and revisions for you on various and sundry stories you've seen here recently, from Parrot to Linux on handhelds to the recent judgement against MP3.com and more. Read on below to find them.

pudge writes: "The Perl Journal is back in the hands of Jon Orwant, after a sorrowful chapter in the hands of EarthWeb. No details available yet, just the good news. He is now accepting article proposals for future issues, and Issue #20 will be printed and mailed soon." It's cool to see something decent being revived in a month when it seems like many companies are either failing or scaling back.

Pudge tells me that perl 5.6.1 is released. Tell your boss you won't get any work done today, you have to, er, upgrade your personal knowledgebase of evolving regularly expressional technology. Then test every one of the bugfixes, like ""a\nxb\n" =~ /(?!\A)x/m". Pick your favorite new feature or bugfix from the announcement and tell us about it.

raelity writes "Larry Wall provides some insight into the design of Perl 6 on www.perl.com. "People get scared when they hear the word Apocalypse, but here I mean it in the good sense: a Revealing. An Apocalypse is supposed to reveal good news to good people. (And if it also happens to reveal bad news to bad people, so be it. Just don't be bad.) What I will be revealing in these columns will be the design of Perl 6. Or more accurately, the beginnings of that design, since the design process will certainly continue after I've had my initial say in the matter." " This is a really interesting article and worth reading if you're at all into Perl. Full of Wallisms, entertaining and insightful.