In my experience with my own modest Perl skills I have gradually moved from the "hack-hack-hack-does it work? Yeah!" style of coding to a more aesthetic appreciation for the artistic aspects programming. When I'm working on a project I try to figure out an elegant solution to the problem, that is, a solution that requires the least amount of coding, but the implementation itself isn't always very elegant. Now, I certainly know when I've written something sloppy, and although most the time I have to go with it due to time constraints, but it doesn't keep me from feeling dirty somehow. I certainly appreciate programming elegance even if I'm not capable of it.

I aspire for the day when my programs become elegant both in form and in function, because I think Merlyn's right: the more artistic a program is the easier it is to maintain, the easier it is to read, the better it works.

But for now I am content to color with crayons. I will leave the oil paints to the Gurus.

Gary Blackburn
Trained Killer