Think of it like being penalized for using sloppy handwriting such that the professor had a hard time reading your handwritten essay exam. You may be making great points in perfect grammar, but if the intended audience can't decipher it, you're out of luck.

Not that Perl is sloppy to you or I. But if someone handed you an assignment written in Lisp would you know how to grade it? (assuming you don't know Lisp).

Well, if the code was messy, it's a fair comparison with sloppy handwriting. I think it's more akin to turning in a paper written in Norwegian. It could contain a cure for cancer (while reducing your weight at the same time, and increasing your breasts/penis/hair length); if it's too hard for the professor to understand, you're out of luck.

Abigail

That's true. Although, I did comment quite a lot. It's just that my commenting was describing what I was doing more than how I was doing it. I just assumed that, Perl-literate or not, a PhD would be able to figure that part out.

I think I see where the problem lies. Yes, he is a PhD, but what if *I* saw the code? I am not a math-idiot, but do you know if I can even do matrix math? It's not hard, but decyphering business logic from code is always a pain.

I used to be a funny character, now I'm just 4 bits.

I don't think it equates to sloppy handwriting. If the code was poorly constructed or if it wasn't documented at all, then fine. But the problem here is the professors, not the codes.

Why tell the students that they can use any language they want if he's going to show bias as to which language they choose? The penalty was because the professor didn't understand a langauge that he said the person could use. How can you say someone can use something and then penalize them because of your lack of familiarity with it? If only languages X, Y and Z are going to get a fair shake, why wasn't that conveyed up front?

"There are none so blind as those that will not see."

If only languages X, Y and Z are going to get a fair shake, why wasn't that conveyed up front?

Which part of "strongly advised" didn't you understand?

---

;$;=sub{$/};@;=map{my($a,$b)=($_,$;);$;=sub{$a.$b->()}} split//,".rekcah lreP rehtona tsuJ";$\=$;[-1]->();print

If you are worried about the points, I'd ask him if you commented more to his liking if he would re-grade it. Sometimes professors can be nice that way... other times they aren't nice but worth a try if it was a lot of points, probably not worth it if it was just a few points (out of a lot)