And perhaps that is what makes them the "true Perl elite"--they are elitist. Another word for that is "snobs".

They have forgotten what it is like not to know all the answers; they beleive that their opinions are the only opinions; they think of Perl as 'their' language and resent that newbies, ex-VB programmers, AOLers, web-designers are discovering 'their' language and revile them for it.

Perl is designed to help people learn the bits of programming they need right now without forcing them to learn the techniques they aren't ready for. But when they are ready for them, Perl tries to be there too. We just don't tell the beginners that the speedometer on their golf cart wraps around several times.

Larry Wall. 02/09/2002