Call for Action: YouTube Perl stuff

[Propaganda.pm_rj]

We have seen some success in the April issue of our all beloved TIOBE index. This is the result of various efforts here @ Perlmonks as well as other work (monks working hard on the english Wikipedia and other pages).

For propaganda.pm, this positive glimpse when the April numbers were published, came not as a surprise, because we're now monitoring the same parameters TIOBE does, do the same computations - on a daily basis.

And because we do, we now can see trends, hot spots (a.k.a. burning issues), especially if efforts seem to "run out of juice". And of course if search engines do weird and shady things. (Does anyone have the email of mommy Marissa Meyer?) Currently we see again stagnation in the overall numbers, therefore I'd like to present here the currently most burning issue. I have set up an article showing the current status quo and discussing YouTube

The article describes the issue in detail and has also a call for action, but let me paraphrase some things here for a short summary:

There are (order of magnitude) about 2mio search hits for the term "Python", there are about 80k search hits for the term "Perl". Yes not all of these denote the programming languages, but most of them do. Interestingly, the quotient of these numbers and the occurence "XXX programming" is about 100:1, so you will find 22k hits for "Python programming" while only a little bit less than 900 for "Perl programming" (which - BTW - are already a result of propaganda.pm work, two weeks ago it was 800).

We therefore strongly suggest, you

• Fetch yourself some popcorn, nachos and favourite bewerage and start watching the perl-related videos. There's a high chance you will be surprised of the content and the quality you'll find there. We were.
• Comment on these videos, answer questions and make sure, you mention in your comment at least once the "Perl programming language".
• If you have Perl-related videos on YouTube or know someone who does, please suggest that these are tagged with "Perl programm ing (language)"
• Have a look at the "python programming" videos and see if some of them couldn't be done for Perl accordingly (and containing "Perl programming language").
• If you have own ideas of Perl-related content on YouTube, please make them come true.
• Participate in Perl/Python, Perl/Ruby, Perl/PHP discussions. Be polite, don't advocate but educate, make sure the "Perl programming language" term is used.
• If you have other ideas how to bridge that 900 to 22000 gap, by all means, please try to implement them.

In general, however, there is virtually NO Perl-related content on YouTube (compared to other popular scripting languages). No mass, nothing to yield from. Let's gain mass!

Despite YT only having a weight of 9% in the index, this huge unbalance in content, drag the Perl numbers in the overall TIOBE index down badly. Please help. Please focus your contributions on this popular channel, which is not seldom the entry point for newbies to programming in general.

[educated_foo]

mommy Marissa Meyer

Was she a mean mommy? This seems a bit catty.

I forget where I read it, but the best reaction I've seen to TIOBE is to game its simple rules with a ridiculous language and completely discredit it. It's a waste of time, and the sooner programmers of all languages no longer have to waste this time, the better. So if you want to help Perl, consider including the string "Befunge programming" in all sorts of places ;-).

[Propaganda.pm_rj]

This so called "best reaction" is wrong. The sooner the Perl community stops that self-delusion the better.

As for discrediting TIOBE: Good. I'm all for it. Let's bring Perl to the 1st position, and then make public, that we give a sh*t about TIOBE. Chances being heard *then* are way better than squeaking from the lower ranks. So before you start with some imaginary language, try to start with Perl.

Because when you really try, you will see how hard it is and whether you are even able to persist. And as a nice side effect - when you try - you will learn many things not encountered before. Browsing the Perl videos on YouTube, was very enlightening for me.

[chromatic]

This so called "best reaction" is wrong. The sooner the Perl community stops that self-delusion the better.

You can engage with kookery on its own level, but isn't there an opportunity cost to doing so? I know everyone's free time isn't completely fungible, but for me every hour I spent addressing kookery is an hour I could have spent writing or writing about Perl.

[Anonymous Monk]

To show you how much against beating dogs I am, I’ll beat my dog. There, now I’ve done it and I’m more against it than ever. See how credible I’ve become!

On the other hand, the fact that engaging with some of the greater Perl community was enlightening for you is no surprise. It’s only a doomed echo chamber from the POV of those who never venture out.

[educated_foo]

One step at a time...

[sundialsvc4]

To me, that makes about as much sense as prosletyzing about, say, wrenches.   Or engaging in a knock-down drag-out discussion about wrenches vs. screwdrivers being the “best” way to hammer a nail.

Remember, most software is not a new project:  it is legacy code.   You dance with the one who brung ’ya.   You don’t arbitrarily introduce new tools and techniques into an established mix because there is both a cost and a risk in doing that.   You don’t rewrite an established system because you can’t.

Businesses care about what the software does, and that it does it.

Instead of worrying about which language is or isn’t popular in some on-line survey, make it your business ... because it is “your business!” .. to familiarize yourself with as many language tools as you can.   What people seek, and pay for, is the well-seasoned ability to walk into any established situation, to adapt to it quickly and correctly, and to become productive, whatever that may mean.   Could be Perl, could be something else, probably is many somethings at once.   “Many somethings at once” is status-normal in any big, old shop, and in plenty of new ones.

[Propaganda.pm_rj]

To me, that makes about as much sense as prosletyzing about, say, wrenches. Or engaging in a knock-down drag-out discussion about wrenches vs. screwdrivers being the “best” way to hammer a nail.

If you have that perception, that is of course unfortunate and might need some perception fine-tuning on your side. The - really simple - gist of what I've written is, that there is a huge imbalance between (and we take just ONE example here) e.g. the number of Python and Perl videos on YouTube.

One can develop that further and talk about the resulting number of TIOBE-relevant hits (there seems to be a constant factor plusminus 100:1 for any programming language), but that is not the gist it's a side effect. We at propaganda.pm came to know of this significant imbalance only because we inspected the TIOBE index computations and verified the measured numbers.

If you do care about propagation of the Perl language, you may hear the Call for action and think/do something about delivering more Perl content to YouTube. Because as for newbies to programming in general, YT is much more likely the 1st station than - say - perlmonks.org.

Of course, if you do not care about propagation of the Perl programming language, simply ignore that Call for action. It's as easy as that.

Remember, most software is not a new project: it is legacy code.

True, but utterly irrelevant here, as we look only at the new projects. Our goal should be that most of the new projects would be done in Perl - if Perl was a suitable language for it ("suitable" - probably no one will/should write e.g. device drivers in Perl).

You're basically right in the rest of your post, but it's a different opera.

[Anonymous Monk]

Why don't you just produce youtube stuff?

Cause those python videos on you tube weren't produced because some something-or-other made a call-for-action