Re^5: What is Perl6?

punkish:

Actually, I think you're making it too complicated. You know what a car is, right? It may surprise you, but you can't actually buy a "car". You can buy a Mustang, a Prius, or many other types of car. But there is no "car". The "car" is a concept, and Ford, Honda et. al. are all manufacturers who would love to sell you one. And they sell different types.

In computers, you know what an operating system is, but you're not running "operating system", you're running Windows, Linux or some specific type of operating system. You're viewing this message not with "HTML viewer", but FireFox, IE, Opera or some such.

Since you see this every day in every aspect of life, I find it odd that you're having difficulty with this one instance.

...roboticus

Comment on Re^5: What is Perl6?

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Re^6: What is Perl6? by punkish (Priest) on Nov 22, 2010 at 03:16 UTC
It may surprise you, but you can't actually buy a "car" I am sorry, but that, to me, seems like an absolutely ridiculous statement. Yes, I know about classes and concepts and their instantiations -- I am 46 years old, am back in school after 15 years of working re-trying my hand at my Ph.D., I do ecosystem modeling for a living (using PDL and Perl), and have taken a few philosophy courses along the way (none of which is impressive -- I am only listing those to establish a context). However, I don't go telling folks that if they say they are buying a "car" they are wrong. There is something to be said about common usage of language. Once again -- I want to reiterate that I (now) understand the difference between the spec, the compiler and the VM, and that they have different names. However, for most practical purposes, for most folks, these differences are pointlessly, needlessly confusing. And, we do want most folks to take up Perl6. Actually, I think you're making it too complicated And, to think, my aim was diametrically opposite... I thought things were too complicated and I was trying to make them simpler. -- when small people start casting long shadows, it is time to go to bed	[reply]

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Re^6: What is Perl6?
by punkish (Priest) on Nov 22, 2010 at 03:16 UTC

It may surprise you, but you can't actually buy a "car"

Once again -- I want to reiterate that I (now) understand the difference between the spec, the compiler and the VM, and that they have different names. However, for most practical purposes, for most folks, these differences are pointlessly, needlessly confusing. And, we do want *most* folks to take up Perl6.

Actually, I think you're making it too complicated

--

when small people start casting long shadows, it is time to go to bed

[reply]