I can't entirely agree with that. Perhaps we could make the distinction between the genuine (and humble) expert and the soi-disant expert.
In my case, though I've only been using Perl for a year, I don't consider myself an apprentice. I don't consider myself a master, either. But the more I learn about the language, the more I realize that there are very few limits as to what can be done with it. For example, reading the chapter on Multiple Dispatch in Object Oriented Perl made me realize just how flexible the language is. It gets out of my way when I want to do something really tricky.
The thing about beginners is, while they don't know what is impossible, they also don't have the vocabulary or the experiential wisdom to know how to turn the impossible into the possible. There's a thin line to walk there. (Maybe that's the point all along.) | [reply] |
