I’ve had a question on my mind since I started frequenting this monastery, “What kind of hackers are these Perl Monks?” I’m new to Perl, but I’ve been in the security dojo for a while and I know that certain activities gather certain kinds of people (though every community is diverse – they aren’t not that diverse), for instance: phreaking seems to attract a shadier crowd, and computer security seems to attract a slightly more intelligent crowd (no offence to real phreakers out there, I know there is a difference between exploring the telecommunications system, and just going out to make prank phone calls, steal service, and just annoy the general population).

So what kind of hackers are you guys? How do you live, show off, learn, and blow off steam. I gather that the discipline of Perl is, well… very disciplined. It seems that most of what is done here is production, real world solutions, the study of logic in the midst of chaotically diverse environments. Is this because that is what you are, and you have brought this to your code; or has the art of Perl helped you focus and channel your thoughts in the form of binary logic? I feel myself slipping into if...then statements, and declaring my variables to myself when I encounter a barrier, has the code changed me forever?

In reply to Perl as a way of life by foxops

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