Re: Re: Learning Perl as a First (programming) language

Comment on Re: Re: Learning Perl as a First (programming) language
Re: Re: Re: Learning Perl as a First (programming) language by Anonymous Monk on Aug 05, 2002 at 08:24 UTC
I know this is off-topic, but.. I have always wondered about why we're not allowed to say PERL. After all, Perl stands for Practical Extraction and Report Language? So why not PERL?	[reply]
Re(4): Learning Perl as a First (programming) language by rattusillegitimus (Friar) on Aug 05, 2002 at 15:20 UTC
`<quote movie="Highlander"> It's tradition. No one will violate that rule. </quote>` [download] Sorry, couldn't help myself...	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Learning Perl as a First (programming) language by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Aug 05, 2002 at 15:30 UTC
The name "Perl" is older than the joke "Practical Extraction and Report Language". It's a "backcronym". Abigail	[reply]
Re: Re: Learning Perl as a First (programming) language by Anonymous Monk on Oct 25, 2003 at 02:09 UTC
I think you mean "backronym" unless you have a Perl program that a cron job runs whos purpose is to determine back formations. I wonder if the military uses such things? backronym n. portmanteau of back + acronym A word interpreted as an acronym that was not originally so intended. This is a special case of what linguists call `back formation'. Examples are given under BASIC, recursive acronym (Cygnus), Acme, and mung. Discovering backronyms is a common form of wordplay among hackers.	[reply]