In another node, merlyn writes:
Perl is intuitive, but not for casual programmers. If you're needing to look up how to get the length of an array, Perl is not for you. Perl is an expert language: very powerful in the hands of experts, but perhaps dangerous to the casual programmer. It's more like a chainsaw than a knife. You must be this tall to program in Perl.
Is this really what people think about perl? That those who don't really know perl ought to just get out of the way and let us1 experts do our job? That you better know all the syntax of Perl before you even try to program in it?

I certainly hope it isn't. I hope that merlyn's just mouthing off because he's replying to princepawn. I hope that he's meaning something more along the lines of "if you've never coded anything before, Perl might be really complicated for you." I hope he's kidding, even if he does mean that, because, if I'd learned Perl first (instead of Pascal), I wouldn't have fled programming for three years. I hope that he's meaning something like "if you have to ask someone else about how you would find the length of an array, because you're unclear on the concept, Perl is not for you." I most certainly hope that he doesn't mean "if you don't already know Perl, Perl is not for you." If I'm totally misreading, please let me know.

Because otherwise I'm in a lot of trouble, since I don't keep the Perl 5 Pocket Ref on my desk just to hold down my papers.2 Anyone else?

1 And by us I mean them folks what are Perl experts and guru types, which is definitely not me.
2 It's a question of syntax more often than anything else, I've done some time as a programmer in other languages too. I keep Programming Perl on there too - thanks for writing it, merlyn.

In reply to Perl is a black diamond language? by amelinda

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