5 ms·

I was a perl enthusiast in the day. But those times are long gone. But I must agree when in a pinch and I need string manipulation or some quick script that is

by toadi 16y ago

I was a perl enthusiast in the day. But those times are long gone. But I must agree when in a pinch and I need string manipulation or some quick script that is just bit to complicated for bash to handle I'll write some perl :)

rjbond3rd 16y ago
As a "not old" Perl programmer, I am puzzled by all these old-timers who feel the need to say they "aren't into Perl anymore." That's fine. I'm not into Windows anymore, but I don't go around telling everyone :) It seems to me the people who "aren't into Perl anymore" were not the gurus who built CPAN. Maybe it's fair to say that Perl isn't that into you, either? (All in good fun :)
- loewenskind 16y ago
  It's no more puzzling than the people who keep on trying to bring perl into every conversation, make sure there is some mostly irrelevant perl story on the front page, etc. I wouldn't expect Hacker News to care much about the language, but rather what's being done. If you built a 10 story house would you be sure to mention what brand of hammer you used? I wouldn't, who cares. It's the act and the result that matters.
  - rjbond3rd 16y ago
    Absolutely you are right that it's results that matter. I use a lot of programming languages, and I never feel the need to love or hate on any of them. But regarding people who "bring Perl into every conversation," it seems to me it is the naysayers who are doing that. Disliking something is fine, but -mentioning- it all the time seems compulsive. And then the original commenter is talking about "back in the day," so I guess this is a kind of reverse nostalgia (things were worse back then)?
    - loewenskind 16y ago
      >it seems to me it is the naysayers who are doing that. At most, the "naysayers" can't be any more than the perl advocates. No one is going out of their way to post articles against perl. We just come out when someone posts yet another perl advocation piece. >Disliking something is fine, but -mentioning- it all the time seems compulsive. Liking something is fine, but -mentioning- it all the time seems compulsive. >And then the original commenter is talking about "back in the day," For all intents and purposes, perl's time has come and gone. Right or wrong, just or unjust. That's just how it is. No amount of wishing or screaming "look at this, we can also do Rails-type stuff!" will change that. Of course when someone posts yet another perl plea for relevancy, people who used it back when it was the language wax sentimental. You'd get something similar if you posted about some new project with OS2 or BEOS or something (arguably better technologies in their day then the one that ended up winning).
- kgtm 16y ago
  The problem with Perl is that those that "aren't into Perl anymore." are louder than those who are.
  - loewenskind 16y ago
    Please don't say that. The people who are into it are too loud as it is. If someone popped up every now and then and said "Yea, it was a great ride into work this morning with my horse & buggy." Of course most people's response is going to be "hrm, yea I've rode in one of those before but it doesn't make much practical sense now". NOTE: I'm not saying that perl is literally as obsolete as a horse & buggy but rather for most programmers to day it may as well be.
    - rjbond3rd 16y ago
      > it doesn't make much practical sense now It helps to read the artice? Anyway, it's my goal to avoid "most programmers."
      - loewenskind 16y ago
        Again, my comment isn't about the article.
        rjbond3rd 16y ago
        FYI, the article is shorter than all your comments. cough
        loewenskind 16y ago
        Which further illustrates my point. What is the point of posting 4 or 5 paragraphs from someone clueless about the subject they're talking about?
        rjbond3rd 16y ago
- berntb 16y ago
  >>I am puzzled by all these old-timers who feel the need to say they "aren't into Perl anymore." That's fine. I'm not into Windows anymore, but I don't go around telling everyone :) Some of them are language war trolls. The rest... well, read some _old_ Perl code from 1999 or so (Nagios, maybe?). :-) Modern Perl with the Perl 6 backports like Moose and other CPAN stuff is totally another thing. I don't really know if it works better for most people to treat your computer language like something extensible, that can grow -- but still force people to learn old cruft, to handle that? I know one thing: I love it, because it is fun. And I need that -- I hated my life when I worked for money in Java. Edit: Grammar.

by toadi 16y ago

rjbond3rd 16y ago

As a "not old" Perl programmer, I am puzzled by all these old-timers who feel the need to say they "aren't into Perl anymore." That's fine. I'm not into Windows anymore, but I don't go around telling everyone :) It seems to me the people who "aren't into Perl anymore" were not the gurus who built CPAN. Maybe it's fair to say that Perl isn't that into you, either? (All in good fun :)

loewenskind 16y ago
It's no more puzzling than the people who keep on trying to bring perl into every conversation, make sure there is some mostly irrelevant perl story on the front page, etc. I wouldn't expect Hacker News to care much about the language, but rather what's being done. If you built a 10 story house would you be sure to mention what brand of hammer you used? I wouldn't, who cares. It's the act and the result that matters.
- rjbond3rd 16y ago
  Absolutely you are right that it's results that matter. I use a lot of programming languages, and I never feel the need to love or hate on any of them. But regarding people who "bring Perl into every conversation," it seems to me it is the naysayers who are doing that. Disliking something is fine, but -mentioning- it all the time seems compulsive. And then the original commenter is talking about "back in the day," so I guess this is a kind of reverse nostalgia (things were worse back then)?
  - loewenskind 16y ago
    >it seems to me it is the naysayers who are doing that. At most, the "naysayers" can't be any more than the perl advocates. No one is going out of their way to post articles against perl. We just come out when someone posts yet another perl advocation piece. >Disliking something is fine, but -mentioning- it all the time seems compulsive. Liking something is fine, but -mentioning- it all the time seems compulsive. >And then the original commenter is talking about "back in the day," For all intents and purposes, perl's time has come and gone. Right or wrong, just or unjust. That's just how it is. No amount of wishing or screaming "look at this, we can also do Rails-type stuff!" will change that. Of course when someone posts yet another perl plea for relevancy, people who used it back when it was the language wax sentimental. You'd get something similar if you posted about some new project with OS2 or BEOS or something (arguably better technologies in their day then the one that ended up winning).
kgtm 16y ago
The problem with Perl is that those that "aren't into Perl anymore." are louder than those who are.
- loewenskind 16y ago
  Please don't say that. The people who are into it are too loud as it is. If someone popped up every now and then and said "Yea, it was a great ride into work this morning with my horse & buggy." Of course most people's response is going to be "hrm, yea I've rode in one of those before but it doesn't make much practical sense now". NOTE: I'm not saying that perl is literally as obsolete as a horse & buggy but rather for most programmers to day it may as well be.
  - rjbond3rd 16y ago
    > it doesn't make much practical sense now It helps to read the artice? Anyway, it's my goal to avoid "most programmers."
    - loewenskind 16y ago
      Again, my comment isn't about the article.
      - rjbond3rd 16y ago
        FYI, the article is shorter than all your comments. cough
        loewenskind 16y ago
        Which further illustrates my point. What is the point of posting 4 or 5 paragraphs from someone clueless about the subject they're talking about?
        rjbond3rd 16y ago
berntb 16y ago
>>I am puzzled by all these old-timers who feel the need to say they "aren't into Perl anymore." That's fine. I'm not into Windows anymore, but I don't go around telling everyone :) Some of them are language war trolls. The rest... well, read some _old_ Perl code from 1999 or so (Nagios, maybe?). :-) Modern Perl with the Perl 6 backports like Moose and other CPAN stuff is totally another thing. I don't really know if it works better for most people to treat your computer language like something extensible, that can grow -- but still force people to learn old cruft, to handle that? I know one thing: I love it, because it is fun. And I need that -- I hated my life when I worked for money in Java. Edit: Grammar.