...and when I say experience I mean, in this specific case, XP. It's a few days I wrote my 150th node, and I'd like to make some consideration about my XP and about XP in general.

In general, a high XP value doesn't mean you are a Perl Guru: it simply means that what you say and write had a good consideration by other monks. This is important. The name XP is a bit misleading actually, and people doesn't get immediately what XP really means.

To demonstrate it let's take a walk on my own nodes: I have an XP of 1459 today. But how did I get it?

Oh, well: on the podium there are three meditations of mine, that don't talk about Perl: the first in particular is sort of a joke. To get a node about Perl I have to go to the fourth place, where I ask about Perl 5.8.0 and Attribute::Handlers. Ask, I said, so no Perl wisdom from me yet...

My best answer that contains Perl code is only at the 7th place, and only three answers with Perl code are in the top ten.

So, if you were thinking that XP really means Perl experience, just forget it. XP is actually a mix of how a kind person you appear and how a smart Perl programmer you are. Maybe you would rather call it consideration, but unfortunately the word is already there for another use in the monastery.

But maybe now the concept of what XP is is now clearer to you.

With love

--bronto

...and happy Valentine's Day!

The very nature of Perl to be like natural language--inconsistant and full of dwim and special cases--makes it impossible to know it all without simply memorizing the documentation (which is not complete or totally correct anyway).
--John M. Dlugosz

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Learning from experience
by Mr. Muskrat (Canon) on Feb 14, 2003 at 18:47 UTC

    So, if you were thinking that XP really means Perl experience, just forget it. XP is actually a mix of how a kind person you appear and how a smart Perl programmer you are. Maybe you would rather call it consideration, but unfortunately the word is already there for another use in the monastery.

    Think of it as a Popularity Quotient. Hmm... I see the point of calling it XP now. PQ just doesn't have the same ring to it. ;-)

    Update: See popularity.

[reply]

      ++Mr. Muskrat. Yes, I think that popularity is the real meaning of XP

      Ciao!
      --bronto

      The very nature of Perl to be like natural language--inconsistant and full of dwim and special cases--makes it impossible to know it all without simply memorizing the documentation (which is not complete or totally correct anyway).
      --John M. Dlugosz
[reply]
Re: Learning from experience
by artist (Parson) on Feb 15, 2003 at 01:41 UTC
    A higher status in any community/society means you are able to express the ideas which people can understand and appreciate and find usefulness in terms of value within a particular society. Status system helps you to measure your participation in that society. XP system in perlmonks helps in that way. It works both ways. You can also judge the society from your perspective and feedback it provides to your input.

    Coming to your point, XP in my opinion refers to your relationship-points with the perlmonks community. Thus X in the XP refers to eXperience and not Knowledge within oneself. It's a different phenomenon that XP leads to believe that it's KP (Knowledge-Points), and that phenomenon is self-perceived even it may be a confidence booster.

    Recently I am studying Genetic Algorithms and found that it is possible to obtain solutions without writing complicated logic. GA provides ability to solve the problems without understanding of the logic of the process which we build traditionally. Output is in the form of combination of input items, that would produce the desired result. In a similar way, you can get more XP with any society providing the representation of various skills in correct combination with better value of acceptance/fitness.

[reply]
Re: Learning from experience
by Ryszard (Priest) on Feb 14, 2003 at 18:40 UTC
    So, if you were thinking that XP really means Perl experience, just forget it. XP is actually a mix of how a kind person you appear and how a smart Perl programmer you are.

    Is it not a reflection of how your peers perceive your posts over time irrespective of whether you post code or theory?

[reply]
Re: Learning from experience
by Marza (Vicar) on Feb 14, 2003 at 20:50 UTC

    XP means nothing when it comes to Perl skills. It simply means that people agree or disagree with what you posted.

    As one who just achieved Saint status, I freely admit I am not a guru. I am working on it, but I have a long ways to go!

[reply]

      ++ for you, too, as you got exactly the point of my post.

      The very nature of Perl to be like natural language--inconsistant and full of dwim and special cases--makes it impossible to know it all without simply memorizing the documentation (which is not complete or totally correct anyway).
      --John M. Dlugosz
[reply]
Re: Learning from experience
by Anonymous Monk on Feb 16, 2003 at 05:14 UTC

    Hi, a couple of observations:

    • This is just one website. Granted, it is one of the main Perl discussion sites, but it is still just one website. Many people in the Perl community also have a very low opinion of the discussions that take place here.
    • Perl is just one language. There are many more (and arguably bigger) fish in the sea. Don't limit yourself to one language, no matter how good you think it is.
    • The moderation system on this site is just a very simple attempt at improving post quality and creating a community feel. It isn't a 10 year project designed by hundreds of people with sociology degrees. It is hardly means anything (kind of like sociology degrees ;-).
    • And finally, even if the experience on this site did absolutely, entirely and objectively represent your Perl skills, who would care? You should go on improving your skills regardless of what a number tells you.

    I've always thought it would be interesting to try and perfect a moderation system for sites like this, but some better projects always seem to come along before I get to it :-).

[reply]
Re: Learning from experience
by zentara (Cardinal) on Feb 15, 2003 at 14:07 UTC
    Duh.....I thought XP-whore meant "microsoft lackey". :-)
[reply]

      Heh. I first thought of MS when I saw XP as well. :)

      It's a similar issue to one I've seen on some forums. The display of post counts, to be specific. It's not exactly the same, since you can increase your own post count. But it is similar in the fact that people think a number on a web page reflects how good you are.

      Which is funny, because my XP truly does reflect my Perl. Low XP, low Perl skills. But I'm working on them. :)

[reply]
Re: Learning from experience
by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Feb 18, 2003 at 20:04 UTC
    I wrote some related thoughts a while ago; you may be interested in reading that thread.

    Makeshifts last the longest.

[reply]

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