History of Perl expansion

irah has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Dear Monks,

I am in the process of learning history of Perl. When I come to Perl expansion, I saw two expansions, They are,

Practical Extraction and Reporting Lanuguage
Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister

I know the first one is expansion. Also the second one is used in some website. I have a doubt, If the second one is Perl expansion, "Why it is not used so much nowadays?." and "When these expansion are announced?."

Please clarify me.

Thanks in advance!.

Comment on History of Perl expansion

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: History of Perl expansion by Anonymous Monk on Feb 25, 2009 at 10:04 UTC
Read perlhist, Re^5: PERL as shibboleth and the Perl community, Perl Etymology, a Recondite List...	[reply]
Re: History of Perl expansion by JavaFan (Canon) on Feb 25, 2009 at 10:06 UTC
"Perl" itself came first, after Larry decided not to name the language after his wife (Gloria), he dismissed all three letter words from the dictionary, and dropped Pearl because there was already a language with that name. The backronyms you mention date from a later, but not much later - they are both mentioned in the manual page that came with perl 1.	[reply]
Re^2: History of Perl expansion by haoess (Curate) on Feb 25, 2009 at 11:54 UTC
Looks like the second one was added by TimToady itself: `$ git blame pod/perl.pod \| grep Pathologically a0d0e21e (Larry Wall 1994-10-17 23:00:00 +0000 455) Perl +actually stands for Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister, but` [download] -- Frank	[reply] [d/l]
Re: History of Perl expansion by Bloodnok (Vicar) on Feb 25, 2009 at 11:19 UTC
Personally, I heard of the latter expansion only lately - I always knew it as the former ... which I prefer since it appeals to what little sense of humour remains to me (GrandFather, take note :-D ) A user level that continues to overstate my experience :-))	[reply]
Re: History of Perl expansion by davido (Cardinal) on Feb 26, 2009 at 00:50 UTC
Early editions of the Llama book make mention of both phrases, and elude to the fact that neither is really the whole story. ...at least I think it's the Llama book, though it could be the Camel book I'm thinking of. Either way, the point is that LW didn't name it some long phrase, and then reduce that to an acronym. He named it Perl. Note, it's NOT "P.E.R.L." Henry Ford didn't name his auto company Fix or Repair/Replace Daily. Fiat was never intended to mean Fix it Again Tony. Dave	[reply]