10 years of programming Perl.

I'm grateful to have found such a wonderful language to help me do almost any job at work better, and for keeping me entertained long into the night away from the office. I look forward to another 10 years. Thanks Perl!

It's not perfect, and I think the original logo is fine, just posting this little brainstorm I had today : )

flickr

I decided a few days ago that I'd give bing.com a try for a complete month - to see if it could win my heart. After 2 days I must say that I'll be going back to google.

I was reminded of the "Perl is Alive" meme last night after watching this video. I decided to search for Perl is Alive on my now default search engine to see how wide-spread this effort/search term had become.

I was disappointed with what I found...

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

... a complete page of results to Pearl Jam's lyrics to their song "Alive".

It took quite some time for me to realize that bing decided that I had misspelled Pearl - omitting any and all results for "Perl".

The flip side is that bing has no issue with the term "Perl is dead" (although they still manage to squeeze in Pearl Jam lyrics for "dead man walking" for that result too).

So, it's unfortunate for the bing.com user that wants to search on "Perl is alive", they may look at their search results and conclude that we're indeed dead. For lovers of the 90's-grunge band, Pearl Jam, might I recommend your next favorite search engine.

"Perl -- It's like Java, only it lets you deliver on time and under budget."

Are you kidding me? Is that what we're about?

Instead, why don't we be critical about ourselves?

Did anyone notice that perl.org is just now looking like a site designed in the 90's?^**

I hope the marketing committee takes their role seriously. Perl needs an identity that can carry it into the future. It's as if nobody wants to admit that a 5k - 15k grant to a GOOD designer to redesign a handful of our sites will do more for perl than half of the grant proposals currently out there. Instead of being passive and waiting for someone to propose a redesign we should have gone out and FOUND someone to do this years ago.

And what's the deal with the Camel all over the home page? Seriously! Is that not O'Reilly's symbol for perl? I'd much rather see 3 onions on the home page than an O'Reilly brand awareness campaign.

Take a look at the Rails 3.0 Release Notes. How freaking slick is that site? Not to mention usable, thought out, and timely. Instead of bashing Java, Ruby has embraced it and some pretty cool things have resulted in it.

Did you know that to some people a "pretty" site influences their judgement regarding the language/topic at hand? The fact that you're reading this probably means you could care less, but it's not about you anymore. We need to be reaching out if we want to keep this dusty language and culture alive. Sure, it might mean our culture changes in the process, but it sure as heck beats stagnation.

Perl is a great language and after reading the Perl 6 advent series I'm equally stoked for what's the come.

I'm not defending Java, and I'm not drunk on the Ruby punch. My thoughts are disorganized and I've probably got a few things wrong in this post. I'm sure others have argued these same points before, much more eloquently and effectively. I just had to get this off my chest. These things (and more) have bothered me for a long time.

I want to see Perl stay relevant. I want others to flock to this language because we have poised it to be welcoming and inviting. I want Perl to be seen as "cool" -- I think it is. I also think we can do a better job of selling it.

http://emacs-fu.blogspot.com/2009/12/changing-cursor-color-and-shape.html

I have gradually been drifting towards Python in recent months due to my fright of what will happen to Perl5 when Perl6 comes along. But with the advent of the advent calendars, it's been a rejuvenation or even a renaissance in my interest in Perl and programming all together.

So THANKS to all who have put the time in to prepare all of this wonderful content. It really underscores the quality of people we have in the Perl community.