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in reply to Standard Perl Modules ~ Overkill

I think your suggestion is really great for teaching programming with Perl, but it's not as good for teaching people how to use Perl effectively. Despite that statement, I do have mixed feelings about the whole thing, since I consider both to be very important. It is true, however, that it is impossible to master Perl per se without being able to use CPAN effectively.

You'll probably find that a lot of the monks disagree with you, but I think your post reflects some real thought. I also think that the nature of the Monastery, with its many opinions and opinionations will make sure that both the core language and CPAN are covered.

Don't forget that part of the reason the Monastery works so well is because people enjoy posting. Sometimes we get golf, but most of the time we get answers that really help. I suspect that requiring people to use the core language would be seen as unfun and discourage the plurality of paths to the same goal.

--
Damon Allen Davison
http://www.allolex.net

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Re: Re: Standard Perl Modules ~ Overkill
by jdporter (Paladin) on Apr 19, 2004 at 20:35 UTC
    requiring people to use the core language ...
    There is no talk of "requiring". I think pbeckingham is simply trying to raise our consciousness on this issue when we go to reply. E.g. if we see (as I did just today) a question that has gotten a slew of non-standard-module-based responses, consider offering a solution based on the standard library or core language. And vice versa.

    jdporter
    The 6th Rule of Perl Club is -- There is no Rule #6.

[reply]

      You're right. He doesn't use the word "require". He does however say "I'd like to suggest that we provide answers using standard modules, when those solutions are adequate," which appears to suggest that he wants us to offer solutions based on something other than what we might have posted originally. That is what I meant with 'require".

      You made me think of another thing, as well. I interpreted the OP as saying something like "instead of posting stuff with modules that are not well-known, post stuff written using the core language, or with modules that are part of the distribution." This second issue depends greatly on what we think "standard modules" means. For me those are the ones that come with the Perl distribution, and pbeckingham states here that this is what he meant.

      But we first have to arrive at a consensus about which modules are standard (core, core plus DBI, etc.), which is a discussion onto itself. I wonder how many monks are posting stuff using modules they consider to be standard, but which others do not.

      --
      Damon Allen Davison
      http://www.allolex.net

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