What do you think, merlyn? Did you ever think you would be turned into a hero like this?

I hack Perl because it gets the job done. I have had a lot of jobs to do, so I got good at hacking Perl. Then again, I had hacked a lot of other languages before Perl, so I got good at the process of programming. (After all, I've been paid to program for over 22 years, and have been programming for another 8 years before that.)

As for being a hero, that's not my goal. My goal is to help others help themselves, since I've been helped so much along my way as well. I enjoy doing that. I also enjoy paying my bills on time ("no matter what the source or size", he says), so I try to find ways to help people that also give me back a few bucks here and there. And most of the time, what I do, does, and for that I'm grateful. But getting paid isn't the only goal... it's just not a contradictory goal (as some "starving artists" tend to see it).

I like that people like what I do. I also like that people like me. I hope that people can tell that one only somewhat correlates with the other; again, unlike some others I could quickly name, but won't. I also like liking people, or I wouldn't be in the people-helping business.

OK, enough philosophy for now. But you asked.

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker