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

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

Comment on Perl exists not as an edifice, but as an act of love

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Re: Perl exists not as an edifice, but as an act of love by kyle (Abbot) on Jul 18, 2008 at 17:04 UTC
This video has been here a few times before, all with no resulting discussion. Clay Shirky on Love, Community, and why Perl is like a Shinto Shrine "Perl is a Shinto Shrine. Perl is an act of love." Perl as Shinto Shrine - Clay Shirky on Love, Internet Style I thought of the "Perl as an act of love" idea when I was enjoying YAPC::NA this year. Being within the community, it really does fit well.	[reply]
Re: Perl exists not as an edifice, but as an act of love by Gavin (Archbishop) on Jul 18, 2008 at 20:58 UTC
"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". ++marto I wish I had said that! I think you have summed up the spirit of of PerlMonks exactly my only proviso would be that you need to have experienced some of the other forums / online communities before you come to truly realise what a very special place the Monastery is.	[reply]
Re: Perl exists not as an edifice, but as an act of love by tilly (Archbishop) on Jul 19, 2008 at 05:54 UTC
I think it would get more responses if there was a transcript. Most people aren't going to sit through a presentation without a lot of motivation. But we can read transcripts quickly. My response to the content of the talk is, I seem to be a verb.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl exists not as an edifice, but as an act of love by Anonymous Monk on Jul 19, 2008 at 10:26 UTC
Its about pace :) no, not salsa, but rate of information absorption	[reply]
Re: Perl exists not as an edifice, but as an act of love by Mutant (Priest) on Jul 21, 2008 at 19:52 UTC
Recently read his book "Here Comes Everybody", which expands on what he's talking about here. Quite interesting, altho relatively light. I'm not sure I agree with his use of the word "love". It's not that it's necessarily inappropriate, but does (obviously) have massive connotations in lots of different ways, so it possibly ends up muddying his message a little bit.	[reply]
Re: Perl exists not as an edifice, but as an act of love by dblanchard (Initiate) on Aug 01, 2008 at 23:40 UTC
Excellent video. I've added it to my "share list." There are 10 kinds of people in the world; Those who know binary and those who don't.	[reply]