Nothingness - The far end of language development

After having read an impressive meditation by eyepopslikeamosquito here The 10**21 Problem (Part 2) I went on a bit of a walk-about through CPAN; Not looking for anything in particular, just looking.

Along the way I ran into a Moose, which was a bit of a surprise. I had heard of this creature in the world of Perl, had seen references to it, read a bit about it. But my understanding was that is was one of those 'Object' creatures which I have, for a long time, 'Object'ed to.

Not for any good reason I guess. Mostly because God and everyone had been talking about object oriented programming as if the worlds existence prior to its appearance was somehow miraculous. "How did people get anything done?". Being the obstinate type, I plodded along shaking my head and writing my procedural code, getting the job done without accessors, roles, classes, instances, methods or any of the other goofy constructs that generated a whole new way of talking about code. I liked(and still do like) my simple variables, and sub-routines.

But that illusion is finally to be set aside. My obstinate Luddite attitude, I have to admit finally, is being undermined by my use of all those handy CPAN modules that make it possible for me to talk to databases, coerce odd date representations into something I consider readable, deliver web pages and data for them, etc... .

Yes, I am finally, after reading perlootut and perlobj, ready to admit that the goddamn OO stuff is useful, and I probably should have been learning it instead of ignoring it.

All this from a wander through CPAN... And then I find it... The ultimate module! The one which inspires me to realize that I might as well go a head and learn something new after all this time. Someday, I might write a module with this level of elegance...something so fundamental that it leaves observers with nothing but the unanswerable question 'Why?'. It will not generate debate like our current Voting Booth subject. Nor will it genearate heady (worth-while, informative) study like the one previously mentioned that started tonights personal Chautauqua.

A module which is, and does and contributes like this one. Some day... . Someday, I will achieve M!

...the majority is always wrong, and always the last to know about it...
Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results...

wjw

Comment on Nothingness - The far end of language development

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Re: Nothingness - The far end of language development by AppleFritter (Vicar) on May 03, 2014 at 09:18 UTC
Perfection is reached not when there's nothing left to add, they say, but when there's nothing left to take away. I believe that M is a shining example of that principle, a perfect embodiment of austerity, and of leaving behind worldly ambitions in order to achieve higher wisdom. This must be the "M" not just in "Moose", but also in "Monk".	[reply]
Re^2: Nothingness - The far end of language development by LanX (Saint) on May 03, 2014 at 14:57 UTC
M = YAWN° Cheers Rolf ( addicted to the Perl Programming Language) °) Yet Another Wasted Namespace. :)	[reply]
Re: Nothingness - The far end of language development by sundialsvc4 (Abbot) on May 03, 2014 at 12:26 UTC
“But even this, padewan, is not The Ultimate Module. The ultimate module is so pure that it does not even exist on this plane. It is called, so they say, `Bureaucrat::Government`. This is Perfection, for not only does it Do Nothing, but it entirely supports itself by Doing Nothing and by forcing everyone that it encounters to do things that Mean Nothing by obliging them to generate `Paperwork (x 3)` at the complete exclusion of all other possible activities. It is completely parasitic and self-replicating, and it transcends computers, for it can be found permeating human societies throughout the world. It should be regarded with great caution, for, if left to its own devisings, it will displace (and tax ...) all other things and will consume all available resources.”
Re^2: Nothingness - The far end of language development by wjw (Priest) on May 03, 2014 at 14:28 UTC
Only a black hole (the cosmological type) surpasses the ability to consume, and even it emits some things of use. I suppose Mcafee et.al. would make $$ on Bureaucrat::Government. It truly is virus like, with only a few symbiotic like characteristics. Perhaps I could give a shot at something like Survival::UnderRadar which would quietly encapsulate and render Bureaucrat::Government less able to consume? Something along the lines of the gene they use in corn seed which tricks some types of insect larva into thinking they are always hungry, and thus, they eat themselves to death on a couple of kernels of corn shortly after hatching instead of slowly eating the whole field of corn as they mature. Hmmm... how to make it propagate though... ...the majority is always wrong, and always the last to know about it... Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results... wjw	[reply]
Re^3: Nothingness - The far end of language development by Anonymous Monk on May 06, 2014 at 19:01 UTC
And then there is N6 ... no, there is still Nothing to it, but it sure will be good someday.	[reply]

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