in reply to How much is Perl6 the community rewrite of Perl?

I'm probably one of the least qualified monks to talk about Perl6 development, but I would say the following: If a dictatorial(junta) run development process has taken 8+ years, I would shudder to think how long a "community driven rewrite" would have taken. The most likely scenario would have been 5 years of planning, and 3 years of arguing, resulting in people quitting the project, and leaving it dead.

A good wise king is still the most effective government...but to find one, we have to wait for the Second Coming of Jesus. (Has anyone seen Larry Wall lately ? Is he sporting a halo? ) :-)


I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth Remember How Lucky You Are
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Re^2: How much is Perl6 the community rewrite of Perl?
by xiaoyafeng (Deacon) on Jan 02, 2009 at 10:13 UTC
    A good wise king is still the most effective government...but to find one, we have to wait for the Second Coming of Jesus.

    Democracy or autocracy, this is a question. But history proved a committe seems be better than a wise king. ;)



    I am trying to improve my English skills, if you see a mistake please feel free to reply or /msg me a correction

      But history proved a committe seems be better than a wise king. ;)

      And what history might that be? What I mean is, although everyone extols how much democracy is better than king, when a big problem arises, the leader almost always assumes "temporary dictatorial control", to tackle the problem. Then there is also the problem of defining what "wise" is. A king may not be wise, and that may be where the committee is needed ....to oust the bad king. But then again...there is the dreaded "tryanny of the majority" that Alexis deTocqueville wrote about, as the worst aspect of democracy. Just ask any black in America about democratic rule in the early 20th century..... it's called class repression.


      I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth Remember How Lucky You Are
        when a big problem arises, the leader almost always assumes "temporary dictatorial control", to tackle the problem.

        Yeah - which leads to Makeshifts last the longest as our Aristotle quoteth...

        AFAIK Perl came into being as a makeshift to solve some pressing problems of its inventor. Now that perl is widely accepted, it seems to me that the next evolutionary step is to establish that makeshift to address all computational makeshifts whatsoever (eq 'pressing problems') the people involved in its design are keen enough to point at. Therefore, its design is doomed to be - a makeshift, again. The implementation follows...

        Of course, the design of Perl 6 is the decision of those which actually do the design of Perl 6 - so its autocratic. You can't force an individual to be innovative, much less a community.

        update: yes, some fallacies in here. Just talking informally w/o too much logic, polemic then, admitted.