From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 107f24,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid107f24,public X-Google-Thread: f4fd2,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gidf4fd2,public X-Google-Thread: 10259a,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid10259a,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,ea8ea502d35ca2ce X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 114809,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gid114809,public X-Google-Thread: 11440e,fe63fd42b0d6db11 X-Google-Attributes: gid11440e,public X-Google-Thread: 10dd18,fe63fd42b0d6db11 X-Google-Attributes: gid10dd18,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-06 15:56:04 PST Path: newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!hermes2.visi.com!news-out.visi.com!news-out.visi.com!hermes.visi.com!news1.optus.net.au!optus!newshub1.rdc1.nsw.optushome.com.au!news1.rdc1.nsw.optushome.com.au.POSTED!not-for-mail From: raj Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.smalltalk,comp.lang.functional,comp.lang.perl,comp.lang.ruby,comp.lang.python Subject: Re: Beginner's Language? Message-ID: <13lbftc0rdl0oaam4lg56k88qhi5hsjki7@4ax.com> References: <9cukad$nn68@news-dxb> <60c9ft0mvlkk9lvno6a67qnqomq7i621al@4ax.com> X-Newsreader: Forte Agent MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Sun, 06 May 2001 22:50:36 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 203.164.144.2 X-Complaints-To: abuse@optushome.com.au X-Trace: news1.rdc1.nsw.optushome.com.au 989189436 203.164.144.2 (Mon, 07 May 2001 08:50:36 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 07 May 2001 08:50:36 EST Organization: @Home Network Xref: newsfeed.google.com comp.lang.ada:7244 comp.lang.lisp:9752 comp.lang.smalltalk:9502 comp.lang.functional:5545 comp.lang.perl:2658 comp.lang.ruby:9241 comp.lang.python:32086 Date: 2001-05-06T22:50:36+00:00 List-Id: >raj> Yes ! But unlike Perl, Mozart was DESIGNED and did not grow by a >raj> process of uglification / accretion. >The way you say that, you make it sound like Perl was undesigned. No. However, elegance and pedagogic virtues were not what Larry had in mind when he designed ( or rather, grew ) it. Functionality and "Magic" ( in the Wallesque sense ) were what mattered. >Perl has a very specific and elegant design behind the scenes, and >Larry Wall would be very offended to hear you say otherwise. To quote Larry's foreword to your own excellent book: ( after talking at amusing length about how he melted the "beads" of AWK, sed, sh , BASIC , Lisp and C together to form Perl) "the magical bead eventually grew into this rather odd-looking Amulet that you see before you today. See it glitter , almost like a pearl... The Amulet isnt exactly beautiful though; in fact up close it still looks like a bunch of beads melted together. Well, all right, I admit it. It's downright ugly. But never mind that. It's the Magic that counts. "