Thankyou once again. This time for the pointer to Erlang. I've seen reference to it before of course, but I looked it up and saw it was designed for writing phone software and it sounded a bit specialised for general use. Following your link and reading, I realise how wrong that conclusion was. It's downloading as I type.

Perhaps the single most convincing thing that pursuaded me to look more closely was section 3 of their Programming Rules and Conventions document. The thing that struck me immediately, and came as a pleasent surprise as I was was expecting something completely different--which is why I started there--was the innate pragmatism, simplicity, and clarity of the advice offered. One or two of the pieces of that advice will take further thought, but most of it had me nodding in immediate agreement as I read it. Truely one the most concise and practical sets of programming guidelines I've ever read.

However, i do find it depressing to think that the style of programming we are all doing today is the best anyone can come up with. But that discussion is for another thread.

I agree. And that's a thread I'd very much like to see, and take part in. I'm not sure if it would be tolorated here, but I think it ought be, especially right now on the timeline of Perl.