As at least one other monk mentioned -- I'm not sure how I missed this thread when it came out. My experience before Perl was using awk to replace the throwaway C programs I was writing to mangle files. I also did some REXX on OS/2 to do some batch processing .. I still smile when I remember an IBM Technical fellow giving a seminar on REXX and describing how the input parameters were read from the command line by the obvious syntax 'parse pull'. (With tongue firmly in cheek.) :)

Around that time, I changed jobs, moving from a secure, but underpaid permanent position to a less secure, but better paid contract. When I came across a problem that needed some programming, I decided to use Perl instead of trying to fiddle around with a C compiler on the Windows platform I was currently on -- and my code worked brilliantly, which was terrific. That led to a little bit of code for a friend, which led to a contract that filled out my time when the original contract finished up.

That was all twenty years ago, and somehow, working in Perl has paid my salary since then. That's pretty amazing. Oh, and it was the December 2001 pair Networks newsletter with an interview with Damian Conway that pointed me to this on-line community, where my education in Perl truly began. I feel pretty lucky to have ended up here.

Alex / talexb / Toronto

Thanks PJ. We owe you so much. Groklaw -- RIP -- 2003 to 2013.

In reply to Re: How has Perl affected you? by talexb
in thread How has Perl affected you? by stevieb

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