I just watched this video (quicktime format), and I would suggest everyone here do the same. The video is of a talk by Clay Shirky, during the course of which he makes some great points including:

"Perl exists not as an edifice, but as an act of love."

"Perl is a viable programming option again today because millions of people woke up this morning loving Perl, and more importantly they love one another in the context of Perl. They love one another enough to stop what they are doing and listen to each other... to answer questions from each other... no contracts are written, no money changes hands, the work goes on"

Now there are many great points (not just about Perl) raised in this talk, I don't want to post them all here, I just hope I mentioned enough to get you to watch it.

I am reminded of the first time I logged on here, I was brand new to Perl, sitting alone, late at night in a terrible office. I signed up, entered the CB and made the classic mistake, asked to ask a question :) Within a minute I had the solution to my Perl program (thanks bart/castaway), though it was a while (nine or ten months perhaps?) until I logged back in I knew I had found something special that night.

I had found a community that was unlike any other I had experienced then, and I have yet to see its equal. People who were truly passionate about the language and the community supporting it. Since I have been working with Perl I have managed to make it the language of choice for work we do here. It has made my life easier and I am pretty sure we could not have achieved what we delivered in the time scale we work to without Perl and its community.

So thanks to everyone who continues to make this a great place to frequent, and to those continuing to create the languages and tools we have all come to love.

Enjoy

Update: doh s/exits/exists Thanks clinton!

Martin

In reply to Perl exists not as an edifice, but as an act of love by marto

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