[Kdar]

I am majoring in Electrical Engineering and have some knowledge of C++ (basic for now).

At my co-op I saw big use of Perl (for scripts). And also so some companies asking for experience in Tcl.

Do you think those two languages are useful to know?
Anyone use them here?

[CrazeD]

Perl can be used to do basic system tasks, or can be used heavily in web development...but I can't see why it would be useful in electrical engineering...

But, if you have already learned the fundamentals of C++, you should be able to pick up Perl quite easily...especially since it uses almost no OOP.

[Kdar]

They use Perl here for scripts to do functional test on different boards using Gentoo (linux).

Have anyone used TCL before?

[jaeusm]

Do you think those two languages are useful to know?

I think any programming language is useful to know. Having the added knowledge will not hurt you. Of the two you mentioned, I think Perl would be more beneficial. However, if I had to pick a scripting language to learn, I'd go with Python since it's much less cryptic than Perl.

but I can't see why it would be useful in electrical engineering...

Programming is quite useful for many engineering disciplines, especially mechanical and electrical. For instance, to do signal processing, modeling, and simulation good programming skills are necessary (as well as excellent math skills).

[aaronkupen]

No, I'm a computer engineer and perl isn't really that useful for me. I actually am going on a co-op for 6 months in boston to do programming for a health company -- they are basically going to spend the first month training me in perl.

This has been my experience with a lot of languages that aren't extremely popular, so I wouldnt waste time to study it on your own -- especially since you are an EE.

[CrazeD]

Originally Posted by jaeusm

IProgramming is quite useful for many engineering disciplines, especially mechanical and electrical. For instance, to do signal processing, modeling, and simulation good programming skills are necessary (as well as excellent math skills).

No, I know. Just saying I don't see why Perl would be useful. I'd think something like assembly or something would be better suited for that.

[jaeusm]

Actually, you'd want a much higher level of abstraction for the examples I listed, like MatLab, Python, or F#. Coding LaPlace transforms or Fourier transforms or even simulations in assembly would be exceptionally difficult.

[aaronkupen]

Originally Posted by jaeusm

Actually, you'd want a much higher level of abstraction for the examples I listed, like MatLab, Python, or F#. Coding LaPlace transforms or Fourier transforms or even simulations in assembly would be exceptionally difficult.

I couldn't imagine doing something like that. Actually I could, thanks for the nightmares I'm going to have tonight.