Perl is Lego, PHP is Playmobil (don't take too seriously)

While reading about Lego and Playmobil, in a usenet group I read:

When we just want to "play", scenarios/stories, we play with the Playmobil (or, rarely the Lego sets that are already/still built)

When we want to "create things", people, space ships, buildings, build scenarios, we use Lego.

Upon noticing the create/play ratio, I immediately thought of Perl and PHP :)

Like any metaphor, it won't be very solid, but I found another quote that I think could just as well be about Perl/PHP as Lego/Playmobil:

Playmobil is mostly modeling. While you can add items to it, they are all "Playmobilized" versions of actual items. The detail is incredible, but customization is limited, and you're limited in what you can create with it. You're limited to the set designer's imagination.

Lego is a building toy. While items may not look as finished, there's a larger ability to customise and "tweak" the sets to your liking. Plus, you can rebuild a set to whatever you want, add to sets to create your own items, and construct things that only exist in your imagination.

I just wanted to let you know. Don't take it too seriously, please :)

If you can find more Lego/Playmobil quotes that apply to Perl and PHP (or maybe other toys and other languages?) too, please share them. I'll be collecting the best ones at http://juerd.nl/site.plp/perl_lego.

Juerd # { site => 'juerd.nl', plp_site => 'plp.juerd.nl', do_not_use => 'spamtrap' }

Comment on Perl is Lego, PHP is Playmobil (don't take too seriously)

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Perl is Lego, PHP is Playmobil (don't take too seriously) by toma (Vicar) on Jun 14, 2004 at 02:02 UTC
CPAN is like going to LegoLand and not having to pay for the toys. It should work perfectly the first time! - toma	[reply]
Re: Perl is Lego, PHP is Playmobil (don't take too seriously) by dfaure (Chaplain) on Jun 14, 2004 at 08:26 UTC
I'm quite sure lots of Monks were Lego addicted in the past (may be still now). I think it's time to request a voting pool about that... no? I have to confess I made a lot of various stuff with Lego for my Playmobil chars... HTH, Dominique	[reply]
Re: Perl is Lego, PHP is Playmobil (don't take too seriously) by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Jun 14, 2004 at 12:48 UTC
Furthering the analogy ... One uses Playmobil to quickly mockup ideas and see how they pan out. Often, it's simpler to leave the idea in Playmobil. However, if it has to be built exactly to spec, it must be done in Legos. This isn't to say that the two cannot happily coexist, though. ------ We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age. Then there are Damian modules.... sigh* ... that's not about being less-lazy -- that's about being on some really good drugs -- you know, there is no spoon.* - flyingmoose I shouldn't have to say this, but any code, unless otherwise stated, is untested	[reply]
Re: Perl is Lego, PHP is Playmobil (don't take too seriously) by chanio (Priest) on Jun 14, 2004 at 05:09 UTC
Don't take it too seriously either, but I find it similar to American movies and European film&arts. I like scratching with the comercial ones, but I cry of joy watching REAL dramas, don't you? .{\('v')/} _`(___)' __________________________	[reply]
Re: Perl is Lego, PHP is Playmobil (don't take too seriously) by domm (Chaplain) on Jun 15, 2004 at 09:57 UTC
I ended my talk on Perl Culture at the Austrian Perl Workshop 2004 with a (not too serious) comparison of various programming langugages and toys: Python is like Playmobil - it looks very nice, but there's only one way to do it PHP is like wodden building blocks - it's easy to build something simple, but very hard to build something complex Java is not a toy - it is a very serious tool used by big business who don't have place for concepts like 'fun' Perl is like Lego. You can look at all the slides here (the toys-slides are starting here), but they propably don't make much sense without my commentary (available here in German) (oh, to navigate the slides, hit 'ENTER' for next or 'DEL' for previous, if you use Mozilla. Else, increment the filename :-) `-- #!/usr/bin/perl for(ref bless{},just'another'perl'hacker){s-:+-$"-g&&print$_.$/}` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Perl is Lego, PHP is Playmobil (don't take too seriously) by Juerd (Abbot) on Jun 15, 2004 at 11:42 UTC
If you add a vote-feature to the slides, I'll ++ them :) Juerd # { site => 'juerd.nl', plp_site => 'plp.juerd.nl', do_not_use => 'spamtrap' }	[reply]
Re: Perl is Lego, PHP is Playmobil (don't take too seriously) by perlfan (Parson) on Jun 14, 2004 at 14:25 UTC
Actually, I have come to think of Perl as clay whereas most other languages are cludgy like Legos and impose creativity sapping restrictions on you. Sure, it is easy to snap blocks together to create something like what you want, but Perl allows you to finely tune and detail your code to create exactly what you want. Of course, in the hands of a less skilled craftsman, clay is not that easy to work with; but time and patience will make almost anyone good at it :)	[reply]
Re: Perl is Lego, PHP is Playmobil (don't take too seriously) by zentara (Cardinal) on Jun 14, 2004 at 17:21 UTC
I've had the same thought for quite some time. However, I related Perl to TinkerToys The lego blocks seem too clunky to me, I like the "pipes" and "hubs" of TinkerToys. (Yeah, I'm that old ) :-) But the net effect is the same.....I'm just a big kid playing with a cooler toy...named Perl. I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh	[reply]
Re: Perl is Lego, PHP is Playmobil (don't take too seriously) by eric256 (Parson) on Jun 14, 2004 at 15:54 UTC
I have to admit I hated legos because I could never get them to take the form I wanted, and even if they could it would take me forever to get there. They are too flat and brick like :). Constructs however rocked because they were beams and connectors and panels. Now that was some good building fun! :) ___________ Eric Hodges	[reply]
Re: Perl is Lego, PHP is Playmobil (don't take too seriously) by stefp (Vicar) on Jun 18, 2004 at 14:49 UTC
And Perl6 will be Playmobil, Lego and Meccano... More than ever, you will be able to pick, invent and combine your building paradigm(s). -- stefp	[reply]