http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=511329


in reply to PERL as shibboleth and the Perl community

Ha! I resisted the first bait but--Hey! I'm just a fish.

Using PERL as screening criteria is reasonable to me.
Litmus tests are cheap and require little skill or effort. They do measure only one attribute; they do have their place.

But not for an initially given reason.
Cultures do not deserve respect, people do. A culture seems to inhere in, or adhere to, its people but is foolish to confuse the two.

On ethics.
Generosity is greater than fairness. I test the fit of the concept of generosity in all the places that I previously used fairness. This has been fruitful. Fairness or justice can easily become an exercise in miserly bean counting--did I get mine? Generosity promotes a finer intention and diminishes the importance of what is beyond your control.

Humor.
Much of the elite of perlmonks is supporting the significance of Perl versus PERL. I don't know to what degree this is driven by self-interest. I doubt many have considered the issue--it is such a small matter. I use Perl and perl as prescribed by that elite; if it was my code I'd be a cargo cult programmer but since it's my English I'm a clueful character. There is something amusingly weird in that.

Be well,
rir