What is the most important thing you learned from Perl?

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•Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by merlyn (Sage) on Oct 20, 2003 at 16:24 UTC
How to make a living while helping people. -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.	[reply]
Re: Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by calin (Deacon) on Oct 20, 2003 at 18:41 UTC
I believe making a living while helping others ranks on top of maslow's hierarchy of human needs (pyramid). By helping, I mean really helping, as in empowering people. A prosecutor may think he's helping (petty) criminals by throwing them into jail. Prison is at most punishment for the crime, never help. Sometimes fair punishment, most times unfair. This is drifting a little OT here, but I have to say it. Seen on some TV reality-channel: a lawyer of an executed death row inmate (ex-man?) couldn't find anything to say to his surviving relatives other than "life is unjust". Speaking for myselef, Perl gave an infusion of wizardry to my otherwise mundane, laic person. I feel like I'm the guy with the coolest tool box on the construction site. Now I wear my hat with some sort of ... pride -- is this the word? Not too much, I haven't yet finished the Camel Book (though I went through your Llama book and did all the exercises :-) ). I feel like I'm absobing Perl like a sponge in this stage! To put it all in one utterance: magic flows, pours, oozes, is absorbed. it is a fluid.	[reply]
•Re: Re: Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by merlyn (Sage) on Oct 20, 2003 at 18:55 UTC
Thank you for the compliment. Having said that, I find Maslow's Pyramid to be overly complex. There are simpler models that are actually a bit more profound, and offer a bit more insight into things Maslow cannot explain. But alas, I lack the room in this margin to retype 30 years of my research. {grin} -- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.	[reply]
Re: •Re: Re: Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by EdwardG (Vicar) on May 20, 2004 at 10:03 UTC
Re: Re: •Re: Re: Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by dimar (Curate) on May 20, 2004 at 12:03 UTC
Some notes below your chosen depth have not been shown here
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by demerphq (Chancellor) on Oct 20, 2003 at 16:52 UTC
I have two. Everything should be a simple as possible and no simpler. Just because you can, certainly doesn't mean you should. The first is shamelessly stolen from a famous physicist, but it applies nicely to Perl. --- demerphq _{First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Gandhi}	[reply] [d/l]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by liz (Monsignor) on Oct 20, 2003 at 16:41 UTC
Using the right tool for the job.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by staunch (Pilgrim) on Oct 20, 2003 at 17:05 UTC
That someone has already done what you're doing now, and you can benefit from that. Staunch	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by BrowserUk (Pope) on Oct 20, 2003 at 16:32 UTC
The power of evolution and respect for history. Examine what is said, not who speaks. "Efficiency is intelligent laziness." -David Dunham "Think for yourself!" - Abigail Hooray!	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by AssFace (Pilgrim) on Oct 20, 2003 at 16:48 UTC
There are many ways to solve a problem. No matter which one you chose, once you post it on the internet, it will be considered the wrong one and someone will flame it. ------------------------------------------------------------------- There are some odd things afoot now, in the Villa Straylight.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by Limbic~Region (Chancellor) on Oct 20, 2003 at 16:44 UTC
humility	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by Coruscate (Sexton) on Oct 20, 2003 at 19:46 UTC
I have the shortest one: RTFM :) If the above content is missing any vital points or you feel that any of the information is misleading, incorrect or irrelevant, please feel free to downvote the post. At the same time, please reply to this node or /msg me to inform me as to what is wrong with the post, so that I may update the node to the best of my ability.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by antirice (Priest) on Oct 20, 2003 at 17:59 UTC
I'm not as good of a programmer as I think I am. antirice The first rule of Perl club is - use Perl The ith rule of Perl club is - follow rule i - 1 for i > 1	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by ptkdb (Monk) on Oct 20, 2003 at 17:05 UTC
To think differently.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Oct 20, 2003 at 21:27 UTC
No language is perfect. Abigail	[reply]
Re: Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by Anonymous Monk on Oct 21, 2003 at 08:24 UTC
Nothing is perfect! Most people working with Perl have a positive attitute and are extremely helpful. So are you, thank you, but why so grumpy and negative and sometimes mean, why does your glas seem to be half empty all the time (not half full). Lighten up please, you are so nice when you are nice. OK, what did I learn here... There's more than one way to be helpful. Anyway, thank you, Abigail, for being helpful.	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by jryan (Vicar) on Oct 21, 2003 at 15:44 UTC
Why does everytime Abigail say something even slightly negative, everyone makes a huge goddamn deal out of it? Just leave the poor guy alone, he seems to be getting along just fine without being so goddamn sappy like the rest of you.	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by Anonymous Monk on Oct 22, 2003 at 08:38 UTC
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by nimdokk (Vicar) on Oct 20, 2003 at 17:53 UTC
There's More Than One Way To Do It™ "Ex libris un peut de tout"	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by barrd (Canon) on Oct 20, 2003 at 16:32 UTC
Allowing me to be a complete idiot whilst learning and having the tools for growth through understanding.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Oct 20, 2003 at 17:08 UTC
How to program correctly ------ We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age. The idea is a little like C++ templates, except not quite so brain-meltingly complicated. -- TheDamian, Exegesis 6 ... strings and arrays will suffice. As they are easily available as native data types in any sane language, ... - blokhead, speaking on evolutionary algorithms Please remember that I'm crufty and crochety. All opinions are purely mine and all code is untested, unless otherwise specified.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by jdtoronto (Prior) on Oct 20, 2003 at 17:43 UTC
Apart from all the other wonderful comments: Read, read, read, ask, read, learn, do, be thankful.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by valdez (Monsignor) on Oct 20, 2003 at 18:16 UTC
Learn and share with others. Ciao, Valerio	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by neilwatson (Priest) on Oct 20, 2003 at 20:31 UTC
The true guru is a teacher. Neil Watson watson-wilson.ca	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by jplindstrom (Monsignor) on Oct 20, 2003 at 21:00 UTC
One. My problem isn't unique, and it may be that someone else was generous with his/her talent, time and effort already. Two. Programming is about thinking in different ways, and Perl taught me a few new ways. /J	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by bakunin (Scribe) on Oct 20, 2003 at 18:48 UTC
That the humanistic ideals will come true.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by johndageek (Hermit) on Oct 20, 2003 at 20:23 UTC
Perl like religion: Just like all the others, but our chosen one is a little better.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by Anonymous Monk on Oct 20, 2003 at 21:05 UTC
That my idiocy is unbounded.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by oylee (Pilgrim) on Oct 20, 2003 at 21:19 UTC
Do what you enjoy, and enjoy what you do.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by simon.proctor (Vicar) on Oct 20, 2003 at 20:30 UTC
regex having fun	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by castaway (Parson) on Oct 21, 2003 at 10:16 UTC
Most of the above, plus: The power of community, and like-minded programmers. C. (And there still aren't enough hours in the day to code everything I'd like to..)	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by samtregar (Abbot) on Oct 20, 2003 at 23:01 UTC
Ugly works; beauty be damned. -sam	[reply]
Re: Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by davido (Cardinal) on Oct 21, 2003 at 05:10 UTC
...That beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Dave "If I had my life to do over again, I'd be a plumber." -- Albert Einstein	[reply]
Re: Re: Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by Anonymous Monk on Oct 21, 2003 at 05:13 UTC
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I always thought it was beerholder.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by Mr. Muskrat (Canon) on Oct 21, 2003 at 04:15 UTC
Two things: That bondage and disciple doesn't have to hurt. That a day of debugging someone else's Perl code is infinitely better than debugging someone else's _____^* code. ^* Insert any other language here.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by set_uk (Pilgrim) on Oct 21, 2003 at 08:30 UTC
To err is human but to Perl divine. The power to go from concept to implementation at the speed of thought (well almost). And with the aid of CPAN the collective speed of thought of the user base.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by LordWeber (Monk) on Oct 21, 2003 at 10:37 UTC
	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by kurt_kober (Chaplain) on Oct 21, 2003 at 14:07 UTC
Results are more important than grandiose vision. Yes, I learned this from Perl.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by arc_of_descent (Hermit) on Oct 21, 2003 at 11:51 UTC
Learnt to program better -- arc_of_descent	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by Willard B. Trophy (Hermit) on Oct 21, 2003 at 13:52 UTC
Premature obfuscation is the root of all evil. (There's plenty of time for golf later.) -- bowling trophy thieves, die!	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by bradcathey (Prior) on Oct 21, 2003 at 14:44 UTC
That programmers don't have to be geeks.	[reply]
Re: Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by Anonymous Monk on Oct 21, 2003 at 17:40 UTC
I don't think it's a requirement, but it certainly seems inevitable. Anonymous Geek^H^H^H^HMonk	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by talexb (Canon) on Oct 21, 2003 at 14:46 UTC
If you don't understand your own data structures, you're nowhere, and it's pointless to write code. Once you understand your data structures, wholly and completely, the code is easy to write. --t. alex Life is short: get busy!	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by DaveH (Monk) on Oct 21, 2003 at 22:55 UTC
Perl has taught me never to use twelve lines of code (public static main void class implements import String java.io.* System.out.println javac java) when one will do! `print "use Perl, go for beer, be happy\n"` [download] -- Dave :-)	[reply] [d/l]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by monktim (Friar) on Oct 21, 2003 at 13:29 UTC
That Perl has a smart, generous and usually very kind community. I say usually very kind because sometimes the Perl community dishes out some tough love. Thanks to all of you.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by thraxil (Prior) on Oct 21, 2003 at 18:06 UTC
how to properly apply lists and hashtables, and that between those two data structures, you can do almost anything. we all learn about data structures in school, but in languages without support in the core syntax, it's often not worth the effort. i came to perl from a mainly C and Java background and in both of those, using a hashtable involves pulling in a library and using an awkward API. the result is that it doesn't feel like a natural way to attack a problem. Perl makes it so easy to use a hashtable that it becomes second nature and you can't imagine going back to a language that doesn't have hashtables built right in. anders pearson	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by MadraghRua (Vicar) on Oct 22, 2003 at 18:25 UTC
Small furry mammals are preferable to large lumbering dinosaurs almost every time. MadraghRua yet another biologist hacking perl....	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by QM (Parson) on Oct 22, 2003 at 22:13 UTC
Since DWIM usually does, I can too. -- Quantum Mechanic: The dreams stuff is made of	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by RolandGunslinger (Curate) on Oct 22, 2003 at 22:38 UTC
to enjoy coding again, and look for a better way to do things	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by Lori713 (Pilgrim) on Oct 21, 2003 at 19:44 UTC
(1) How to grovel and suck up on a regular basis. (2) That my first look at a Perl program wasn't the program cursing at me; it was only a really nasty regex.	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by YuckFoo (Abbot) on Oct 21, 2003 at 21:49 UTC
Programming can still be fun. YuckFoo	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by zentara (Archbishop) on Oct 21, 2003 at 15:46 UTC
How to cut'n'paste :-)	[reply]
Re: What is the most important thing you learned from Perl? by reclaw (Curate) on Oct 21, 2003 at 18:20 UTC
Programming! I learned Perl first. Reclaw	[reply]


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