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in reply to Re^7: PERL as shibboleth and the Perl community
in thread PERL as shibboleth and the Perl community
"PERL" is a clue that you're not a team player
And I respectfully disagree with that statement. If you spell it "PERL", it means a couple of things:
- You've not read perlfaq1
- You've not participated in a perlmonks thread where such a distinction was made
The first is not particularly egregious. perlfaq1 answers other such pressing questions as "Where can I get a list of Larry Wall witticisms?" and "What is a JAPH?". Questions for the ages I'm sure, but nothing in there would lead me to believe that the person is not a team player.
The second is even less so. As far as I can tell, the Monestary isn't mentioned anywhere "official". That is to say that it isn't mentioned in the docs as being the place for all your Perl needs. I stumbled upon it almost 5 years ago, and I'm sure that others have done so similarly.
And so, I ask, what is it about spelling it "PERL" that indicates that someone is not a team player? Is it that they haven't read the part of the official documentation least likely to help them in their day to day work, or that they haven't followed every conversation on the unofficial place for Perl questions?
thor
Feel the white light, the light within
Be your own disciple, fan the sparks of will
For all of us waiting, your kingdom will come
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Re^9: PERL as shibboleth and the Perl community
by chromatic (Archbishop) on Nov 23, 2005 at 19:38 UTC
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To me it indicates more than that: you haven't read the good Perl books, you aren't aware of the good Perl websites, you aren't familiar with the writings of the good Perl authors and programmers -- or if you know all those things, you either haven't noticed that they all write "Perl", not "PERL", or you don't care.
It's like misspelling my name or the name of my company in your cover letter. I know what you mean, but it's a silly mistake you could easily have corrected.
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(that) you haven't read the good Perl books
If every good Perl book mentioned in it "it's Perl, not PERL", then I'd be very put off if I were someone trying to gain entry into the language (why dwell on such a minor issue?). However, as both you and I know, most books don't explicitly make this distinction. So, even if I had read the "good" Perl books, the "proper" spelling of Perl could be implied at best.
(that) you aren't aware of the good Perl websites
My previous argument in the grandparent node about the monestary and my statements above about Perl literature should sufficiently address this point.
(that) you aren't familiar with the writings of the good Perl authors and programmers
Where else would good Perl authors and programmers write other than in books and on websites? See previous argments.
or if you know all those things, (that) you either haven't noticed that they all write "Perl", not "PERL", or you don't care.
Except, as stated in another part of this topic, here and here
It's like misspelling my name or the name of my company in your cover letter. I know what you mean, but it's a silly mistake you could easily have corrected.
Err...not quite. In looking at a lot of the books on my shelf right now, I see a lot of the titles are in all capital letters ("APPLIED COMBINATORICS", "LINEAR ALGEBRA AND ITS APPLICATIONS", "THE ART OF WAR", etc). Does this mean that it's wrong to refer to them in a different capitalization ("Applied Combinatorics", "Linear Algebra and its Applications", "The Art of War")? Moreover, the logo for my company spells out the company name in all capital letters. However, the name of the company is most often refered to in title case. Misspelling is one thing; differing capitalization is another.
And, because I just thought of it, to paraphrase one of the mottoes of the Perl community is "be liberal in what you accept and strict in what you produce". The attitude that "PERL" is absolutely incorrect flies in the face of this somewhat, wouldn't you say?
thor
Feel the white light, the light within
Be your own disciple, fan the sparks of will
For all of us waiting, your kingdom will come
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The attitude that "PERL" is absolutely incorrect flies in the face of this somewhat, wouldn't you say?
If one wants to be absolutely correct, one should follow the usage in the OED, which does not say that "PERL" is incorrect, but that it is irregular.
Of course, any true linguist (I'm probably not speaking about your high school English teacher here) will tell you that "correct" is whatever communicates what you want to communicate. The fact is, everyone here agrees that "PERL" sometimes communicates something you don't want it to communicate. We just can't agree on whether that's a bug or a feature. :-)
And that's essentially the meaning of "irregular". A quite useful category, if you're writing a dictionary.
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Re^9: PERL as shibboleth and the Perl community
by Anonymous Monk on Nov 23, 2005 at 16:40 UTC
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And I respectfully disagree with that statement. If you spell it "PERL", it means a couple of things:
- You've not read perlfaq1
- You've not participated in a perlmonks thread where such a distinction was made
Don't forget the other important reasons...
- You know perfectly well what the difference is, but you like to see busy-body perlmonks blow a gasket.
- You're trying to win a bet as to who can create the most inane node at perlmonks.
- A college has expressed admiration and respect for the likes of Randal and Chromatic, and you want to show him they're just ordinary people who can be trolled like the rest of us.
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A college has expressed admiration and respect for the likes of Randal and Chromatic, and you want to show him they’re just ordinary people who can be trolled like the rest of us.
You mean a colleague, not a college, right?
Makeshifts last the longest.
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