http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=378688

In case you didn't investigate Perl Power Tools Updated, here is a nice vintage poem by Tom Christiansen.

From: Tom Christiansen <tchrist@mox.perl.com> Subject: In Mountain View did Larry Wall Date: 26 Jun 1999 16:45:41 -0700 In Mountain View did Larry Wall Sedately launch a quiet plea: That DOS, the ancient system, shall On boxes pleasureless to all Run Perl though lack they C. His acolytes he gathered round And led where tools were never found Save but for those made dear by Bill's Unkind--nay, cruel!--per-user fee And visual glitz chock full of frills; They barely worked, and were not free. But now foul wretched pain was fast supplanted With bright new Perl-wrought tools at last to cover That savage place of which we long had ranted Though some beneath a waning moon had chanted To summon forth their sendmail-demon lover! And in this place, long fleeced by Redmond's scheming As if the hackers' gods were lost in dreaming An honored program, great and open-sourced, Which Unix hackers had long ago endorsed Cruel schackles shattered, freeing from the jail Where prisoners chafed beneath the Windows' flail. Despite these joys, we paused and looked to see Lone Larry muttering low but plaintively He raised his arms to calm the frenzied motion Of heartless hackers cursing systems small That ran these boxes pleasureless to all For struck was Larry with another notion: 'Twas not enough to bring Perl to this shore His quiet voice he raised to ask for MORE! This land was lacking still the pleasure That comes from using simple glue To join together native treasure, And integrate COM objects, too. Then came a miracle of rare device, An Active Perl to lend its flair and spice To friends trapped far from Paradise. In a vision once I saw: It was a Wisconsinian maid, And with Perl Power Tools she played Stringing puissant pipes together Deftly weaving webs of power Fingers dancing like a feather Till in me deep delight did flower. For her my time I'd sacrifice: I built myself a tool so fair 'Twould run on Bill's or Steve's device, That she might know me if I dare. My friends cry out: Beware! Beware! Her singeing sighs, her stinging stare! She knows me not, mistrusting vice. My words of Unix bring her dread, But I shall sooth her fears instead And drink the milk of Paradise. -- Just don't compare it with a real language, or you'll be unhappy.. +. :-) --Larry Wall in <1992May12.190238.5667@netlabs.com>

I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh