I'm rather new to Perlmonks, but in the short time that I've been here, I've taken note that Perlmonks seems to be a fairly "religious" site. Among the highest doctrines of Perlmonks is that the use of Perl and UNIX are superior to almost any programming language and operating system available. I've seen people refer to using C and Windows almost as if even mentioning them were a type of blasphemy. Perhaps I can understand some of the dislike towards the monopolistic software company that tries to drive bug-filled OS's down their consumers throats, but I've always been rather bewildered when it comes to the apparent dislike (sometimes bordering on hatred) of C.

Granted, I program primarily in C++ and this may be why I've noticed the dislike toward C, but it just seems odd to me. After all, everyone here seems to greatly support UNIX, but C was created for the sole purpose of creating UNIX. (Look here for more information.) It almost seems as if people wish they could get rid of C in order to keep UNIX all to themselves (hence the title).

Why is it that the members of Perlmonks seem to reject the language that fostered the operating system that they hold so dear? Why is it that Perl seems to be considered so much "holier" than C or C++?

I must admit that I rather enjoyed the post made by tilly titled Choose the most powerful language - it seemed as if, finally, people were really willing to admit that there were advantages to other languages. I don't mean to imply that C is in any way better than Perl or Java or whatever, simply that each language is designed for a different purpose and has it's own strengths and weaknesses. I just find it odd that promoters of Perl seem to dislike C while they embrace UNIX.

So why is it that you like Perl so much and dislike C? Remember to Question Your Opinions! ;-)

- Sherlock

Skepticism is the source of knowledge as much as knowledge is the source of skepticism.

In reply to Perlmonk Oedipus Complex? by Sherlock

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