sitefaqlet
SiteDocClan
<!--
2003-03-17 [boo_radley] created placeholder
2003-05-09 [Mr. Muskrat] new document
2003-09-02 [ailie] nitpicking copyediting, changed each other to one another in PM charter section
2003-10-28 [Mr. Muskrat] nitpicking copyediting, capitalized each line in PM charter section, changed status to 'Beta'
2004-01-26 [jdporter] added link to "Why does Perlmonks work?"
2004-04-17 [Mr. Muskrat] reviewed the node, no content changes were made, changed status to 'Stable'
2004-06-05 [Mr. Muskrat] changed version to 1.0 (why didn't I do this back in 2004-04?)
2004-12-05 [Mr. Muskrat] Changed first link to the only one that I could find still working... the Internet Archive Wayback Machine
2004-12-19 [jdporter] With the concensus of the SDC, changed first line so as to imply that THIS NODE is (now) the authoritative source of the quote.
2005-03-14 [ysth] define "Perl" as any version
2005-08-07 [demerphq] test of new edit history code.
-->
<h1>What is PerlMonks?</h1>
<p>
According to [vroom], its initiator,
<!--
[vroom] has been
[http://web.archive.org/web/20011224183800/http://www.pair.com/pair/current/insider/1201/damianconway.html|quoted]
as saying that
-->
PerlMonks is:
<ul>
<li>
An attempt to make learning Perl as non-intimidating and easy to use as possible.
</li>
<li>
A place for individuals to polish, improve, and showcase their Perl skills.
</li>
<li>
A community which allows everyone to grow and learn from each other.
</li>
</ul>
</p>
<p>
[nate] had the following to
[http://webdevelopment.developersnetwork.com/Articles.asp?Article=100|say]
about the genesis of PerlMonks:
<blockquote>
<p>
We were aiming for a cool Internet hangout for Perl gurus
and semi-advanced users.
</p><p>
We wanted to offer an environment where people could ask questions,
post their best work, and just basically geek out on Perl.
</p><p>
My first official title in the company was "Perl Monk".
I guess I liked the philosophy behind being a monk.
There's a religious connotation, and Perl is a language
that some people take as seriously as a religion.
Monasteries are culturally known as centers of learning and
knowledge, and that is a good analogy of what we're trying to build.
</p><p>
All these questions people are asking will make a
tremendous archive of Q&A-style documentation.
</p>
</blockquote>
</p>
<p>
<b>Perl</b> refers to [http://www.perl.org/about.html|the programming language],
while <b><tt>perl</tt></b> refers
to an implementation of that language, or any of the associated technologies
and projects, such as [http://www.parrotcode.org/|Parrot] and
[http://www.pugscode.org/|Pugs].
See [doc://perlfaq1#What's-the-difference-between-"perl"-and-"Perl"?]
</p>
<a name="monks"></a>
<p>
<b>Note:</b> We use "PerlMonks" to refer to this web site and the
community centered on it. It is a singular noun.<br/> "Perl Monks", a
plural noun, refers to the people who participate in this community.
</p>
<p>
You will occasionally see "PerlMonks" abbreviated as "PM".
</p>
<p>
"[id://273733|Why does PerlMonks work?]" is a discussion thread in which several denizens of
the PerlMonks community express their feelings about how and why the
community works so effectively.
</p>
<p>
PerlMonks is built on the "Everything Engine" (version 1).
For a history of Everything, see [http://everything2.com/title/The+E2+Backstory|The E2 Backstory] @everything2.
</p>
<hr/><i>Back to the [PerlMonks FAQ]</i>