Re^3: People who write perl, Perl and PERL

[merlyn]

in reply to Re^2: People who write perl, Perl and PERL
in thread People who write perl, Perl and PERL

The Linux desktop is not a programming language. I would expect Linux developers to be aware of the various Linux programming community areas. I would not expect Aunt Sally in Accounting using Linux on her desktop to be aware of such things, any more than I would expect a match.com user to have a Perlmonks handle.

However, I would expect the programmers of match.com to have a Perlmonks handle, and know about rt.perl.org, and so on. That's what I'm arguing here. To be an effective Perl programmer, you're in the community because that's part of being an effective Perl programmer. Hence, the "PERL" shibboleth is valid, as far as I'm concerned.

[Perl Mouse]

I would expect Linux developers to be aware of the various Linux programming community areas.

So do I. And I'd expect that of the perl developers as well. I do not expect that Perl programmers to join "the community" - it's nice if they do, but there are other nice things to do with your time as well.

[shotgunefx]

Kind of two different points here. The linux example was more directed toward using software without contributing.

Personally, I think a competent programmer is a competent programmer. It's irrelevant if he doesn't know the social conventions of the community surrounding it. It speaks little to how they can apply that tool.

It's like jumping all over someone for not knowing how to pronounce something. Just because they can't say it right, doesn't mean they don't understand it.

[Anonymous Monk]

Randal, I strongly disagree that to be an effective Perl programmer you have to dive deep int othe community. Nor does one have to subscribe to all of their beliefs. If "Practical Extraction and Report Language" appears on the first page of perldoc, what is wrong with compressing that into PERL ?

[Jenda]

To be effective means to know when, where and how to ask. Sure you can solve all problems yourself, but it takes more time. Plus without being part of the community you probably do not even know about lots of potential problems. So you can't even begin solving them.