You know, when I look at Russian Cyrillic, or Greek letters, it looks like squiggles. I've never studied it, so I have no means to relate it to sounds, let alone meanings.

So, when people say, "I can't read Perl", it only tells me they haven't studied it.

And if people choose to be vocal about their own ignorance, saying "Perl is unreadable!", that's saying a lot more about them than it does about Perl.

As far as I can tell, millions of people speak Greek and Russian. I'm not one of them, and that's ok. I don't keep saying "Russian is impossible", simply because I per…

I think "certification" for most software is snake oil.

And, despite the participation of fellow Perl trainer Peter Scott (whom I have the highest respect for), and my primary publisher O'Reilly (whom I also have the highest respect for) in a new "Perl Certification" program, I still think this is snake oil.

Therefore, I will be discouraging individuals from taking such courses, and HR people and clueless managers from looking for such certifications, particularly demanding them to be considered for an application. I will continue to work hard with my clients …