The recent discussions about whether or not perl is a
real programming language (the kind of controversy
that causes me to stare at the screen in disbelief or
snicker at a presumed-troll) have reminded me of another
little snippet from Lao Tzu, who wrote many things linking
computer languages with life. He noted that the dynamic
and flexible (fluid like water, and supple like youth)
are those which are ultimately triumphant, while those
things which are inflexible and brittle are, by definition,
nearly dead: 

76.

Man is born gentle and supple. 
At death, his body is brittle and hard. 
Living plants are tender, 
and filled with life-giving sap, 
but at their death they are withered and dry. 

The stiff, the hard, and brittle 
are harbingers of death, 
and gentleness and yielding 
are the signs of that which lives. 
The warrior who is inflexible 
condemns himself to death, 
and the tree is easily broken, 
which ever refuses to yield. 
Thus the hard and brittle will surely fall, 
and the soft and supple will overcome.

[download]

Rob

In reply to Lao Tzo would approve of perl by rje

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