Most people who try to build something that already exists on CPAN are not doing it because they have looked at what's there and found it inadequate. Most of them are doing it because they haven't looked, or are too lazy to read the code that's already there and learn from it, or are too arrogant to accept a solution written by someone else. There Is More Than One Stupid And Inefficent Way To Do It would be a better acronym for the majority of cases you are describing.

This is an attitude that does not help. Generally, in online communities, when a person asks a question, it is assumed they have no idea what they are doing, and are told to go to Google, or to search CPAN. Yes, this community is better than some others (including nonPerl related), but really this is not answering their questions.

I agree that looking through code can be effective for learning, but not everybody can read and type Perl fluently. Now, if a link to an article was given to the question, I would not complain. This way, people who are use to other languages can check out how it would be done.

Again, I believe that this thread was more about learning rather than doing, as this site is mostly for educational value (yes, this is an educational site... you cannot even escape it when you're not at school ;) ).

You're argument is not a new one, and I am surprised I cannot find it on CPAN, despite the ammount I've seen it.

-- Jamie Payne

In reply to Re^2: Death and Return of TIMTOWTDI by dakedesu
in thread Death and Return of TIMTOWTDI by dakedesu

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