in reply to Re: Perl6 syntax being too much complex? How we will teach and read that?!
in thread Perl6 syntax being too much complex? How we will teach and read that?!

I disagree with this stuff:

"...complex syntax ... which makes for a steep learning curve when you start out..."

"If you can accept that the complexity and learning curve involved in getting up to speed with perl 5..."

As a relative newbie, I found that the learning curve for Perl was much less steep than for other languages, because of the effort Perl takes to emulate natural language. You learn any language by making gradually more complex sentences using your dictionary; and by talking with native speakers. Perl makes this process easier than any other language I've encountered.

So Mr. BrowserUK and I get the same conclusion by radically different paths: Perl 5 was designed for the programmer.

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Re: Re: Re: Perl6 syntax being too much complex? How we will teach and read that?!
by TimToady (Parson) on Mar 22, 2004 at 23:45 UTC
    Yes. I would say that Perl was designed for two different types of programmer. I recommend the article "The Tyranny of Choice" in the April issue of SciAm. It distinguishes "maximizers" from "satisficers". To a satisficer, the learning curve of Perl looks quite shallow because they don't have to learn it all at once. To a maximizer, the learning curve of Perl looks very steep because they do feel that they have to learn it all at once--but that's what makes a maximizer happy, after all.

    I confess that I am a maximizer. I am so obsessively maximizing in my approach to life that I have to strike a careful balance between maximizing and satisficing. And that's good enough for me... :-)

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