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

[Anonymous Monk]

in reply to Re: Re: Learning Perl as a First (programming) language
in thread Learning Perl as a First (programming) language

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?

[rattusillegitimus]

<quote movie="Highlander">
It's tradition.  No one will violate that rule.
</quote>

Sorry, couldn't help myself...

[Abigail-II]

The name "Perl" is older than the joke "Practical Extraction and Report Language". It's a "backcronym".

Abigail

[Anonymous Monk]

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.