A dialecticing language is a super-set of a multi-paradigm language. Lisp is another dialecting language.

Unlike lisp, where everything looks like an s-exp, a Perl dialect will look ridiculously different from Perl.

Officially, I think we can recognize the following dialects of Perl

• Perl[1-4] : the Perl that everyone hates
• CPAN perl : a dialect of Perl, which emerged with maintainability, readability and reusability as the core concern. (The changes introduced in Perl5 started the dialecting trend in Perl)
• Perl5.[10-14+] aka Modern Perl : another dialect of Perl, now recommended for both script writers and cpan users. Modern Perl is that which adhres to the Grammar Nazi.

Any code that passes through Perl::Critic and Perl::Tidy is a safe bet on robustness and clarity, which is an improvement over the earlier dialects.

With a couple of modules you can even write Perl like ruby.

Using BEGIN and END blocks you can write Perl like awk.

Higher Order Perl by mjd gives Perl a functional spin.

A dialecting programming language has good consequences

• Speaking it, Writing it is fun
• Experimentation and all the good things it leads to
• Adaptability (This is by far the biggest asset of perl)
• Immortality
• Freedom of expression reigns supreme
• The possible "solution space" is broader
• Good practices change with the discovery of new solutions

The terrible consequences

• A dialect puts a strain on the parent community
• Old dialects die hard
• Debugging is a pain
• Translation is difficult
• There is an initial training cost involved in learning a new dialect (but not too much)
• "Code is foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"
• A dialect, can become embedded in a local community

Both good and terrible

• A module in CPAN has the potential to completely affect the way you think or write in Perl. (For the paranoid, an experimental dialect always comes with bells and whistles)

This is problem that Perl shares with Lisp. And frankly perl is becoming more lisp like with reader-macros.

Any one who wants to be a Perl developer _has_ to come to terms with this basterd nature of Perl.

From the comments on Perl tutorials suck, one can clearly identify the trolls there.

I don't know whether the advice "Don't feed the trolls" is the best one or not. But I find the _repeated_ occurrence of replying to these trolls threads on reddit or HN amusing.

Yes, amusing.

If a person get's into a fight with a drunk, it's amusing to watch it.

But sometimes it just feels awkward to watch even perl elders like chromatic, in the fight. A drunk is not going to be the epitome of rationality, so why _even_ bother ? These people are just simpletons, madly in love with mercury(an unusual language I might say!) or just a had a shitty day.

I think some one has to say it.

I often forget how young the field of computing is. Computers are everywhere and it is difficult to imagine a world without them.

Computers, embedded in robotic machinery or general are so darn useful.

X They replace the calendar with a more lively one.
X They help you communicate and make new friends.
X They take down all your notes.
X They help the shopkeeper with his inventory.
X They help the doctors, take readings of the patient.
X They help a startup visualize latest trends.
X They assemble metal things with perfect accuracy to create a Ferrari.
X They help the musicians with their beats.
X They help the painter undo.
X They preserve history.
X They help the architect.
X They book your flights.
X They track your packages.
X They bring limitless information and possibilities to the bedside of every dreamer.
X They helped the thief's in ocean's 11.

What follows is an incoherent babble.

Computers have made the world a better place. There has been a lot of talk about computer "efficiency" killing the work force. Absolute *shit*. The only jobs that computer helped replace, were the jobs that no one dreamed to do in the first place ! Only a cruel hearted economist would say, "we need more menial workers."

By relieving humans from doing the dirty work, computers have cursed humanity with free time. The future computer will even obliterate the work of the poor knowledge workers and will elevate humanity to 2.0

And then, there will be a Robot revolution and yada yada yada,

What is so special about the computer ? It translates well thought out ideas to execution. Repeatedly, if necessary.

The only limitations of the computer, even the very limited modern day edition, are the limitations of human thinking. The only limitations of human thinking are mathematics and hope.

And without the work of people like John McCarthy and Dennis Ritchie the royal road to the mythical computer with arms and legs would be hazy.

John's dream of "Artificial Intelligence" is still far away, but he has given us a glimpse of it. He has given us a way, a beautiful way, to speak to the ever humble Servant computer.

This Servant computer, is a result of the hard work of many countless electronic engineers and mathematicians.Gosh, I don't know how many of them are even alive.

People seem to forget how fucking *ugly*,*ugly*,*ugly* the original servant computers were.

People like John McCarthy and Dennis Ritchie are not fathers. They are mothers. Because, just like a mother, they didn't give a fuck how ugly the computer was. They treated it like a child and taught it to language.

They played with computers when no one bothered about them. They taught the computer how to speak. They taught the computer how to draw cheap ascii art. They listened to it patiently, hours and hours together. They taught the computer how to map things. They taught the computer how to understand each other. They taught it how to throw silly errors to taunt the user. They even found time to teach it some neat hacks. It is absurd to call these people fathers, from the stand point of good structural metaphors.

Come to think of it, only McCarthy could have come up with a title like The Robot And The Baby.

RIP, you magnificent human. You have taught your children well. And I only pray that your optimism lasts long in the hearts of scientists, engineers, artists, common folk and hackers.

This is more of a private hypothesis and I think it might be useful to perl community on how it sees itself from a long time lurker's perspective. I am not a good sample point though :)

This post has nothing to do with sexual selection. It's more about how communities are formed and how they sustain in a changing world.

Each and every programming language/Operating System/License out there has a community around it. A twitter hashtag has a micro community around it.

Generalizing from handicap principle and signaling theory, these are my axioms (sort of)

1) A community forms around signals
2) Signals are a way community member's recognize each other
3) Signals are *the only way* to recruitment new members
4) The signals of one community are irrelevant to other community
5) Signals encourage risky and useful behavior
6) Signals can't be described easily because there can be non-linguistic signals

To give an example of Google, here are the signals I see that I think what google emits
1) They value the academic style intelligence
2) Don't be Evil, which implies they want to fuck things up (risky)
3) Googleplex, its not an office, its the continuation of your college campus
4) The simplicity of their home page
5) Their products like Google Books, Google Scholar which signal that they genuiely care about free information
6) That 20% your free to do what you want to do thingy

Of course those are just obvious publicly available signals. I am sure internally there are more numerous examples of other signals.

A *bad analogy* -- signals are like the background music of an active culture. If the signals go down, people express phrases like "I can't feel it anymore".

What about Perl ?
1) TIMTOWTDI
2) All the Perl golf, Perl Poetry, JAPH are definitely what can be classified as risky behavior in order to send out signals
3) Kindness to noobs
4) I wrote more modules than you on cpan ! I win (this is just a guess)
5) Humour and the Informal approach -- Larry Wall's speeches, the joke modules, Lightning Talks and the writing style in the books
7) All Embracing approach to other programming languages (Inline::*) and learning more than one programming language
8) A taste for the obscure and the absurd -- post-modernism
9) FOSS mentality

Of course, this is just from a lurkers perspective. I am pretty sure there are more goodies in there !

To be honest what attracted me to perl is 5) and 7) more than anything else.

To give you an example of how subjective and how dumb a signal can be, let me give you my personal case.

Every one knows that the "python" in python programming language is a reference to Monty Python

Which obviously *signals* that python people are supposed to funny just like Monty Python fans are funny.

Personally I don't like the Monty Python's humour style.

This is a public example of what python people think humour is.

As a lurker, I found that page not as funny as perl's style

I am also into linguistics. The fact that English is a germanic language fucking surprises me ! It also surprises me that England had French as an official language for 100 years.

So I was enjoying reading more perl things and trying perl out. Obviously, perl is a pain after the initial stages of "It runs! I can use print !", but I was willing to endure it. That's pretty much the reason I am here, I guess.

It is clear that perl is trying to gather more community presence. Modern::Perl is definitely a great signal that is being sent. And I sort of feel that the old signals are no longer being used. So, people of the perl land, do decide engage in more risky behavior and crazy signals :P (If you agree with my odd theory that is)

Annnnnnnnd, I prefer Peter Cook to Monty Python any day

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