1 Erudil, a hacker of Perl, To
Vroom, the saints, and all the
dwellers of the Monastery: 2
Mercy, peace and love be yours
in abundance. 3 It is now a little
more than two years since I joined
this community of believers in Perl,
and my appreciation of this place and
its custodians and members continues
to grow. 4 Brothers and sisters, I
beseech you to continue fighting
the good fight, showing patience and
understanding to those who come to
the gates of our blessed Monastery,
bereft of clues and ignorant of
our ways. 5 Do not rebuke them with
harsh words such as "RTFM", but
rather lead them gently - with URLs
- so that they may learn wisdom. 6
Suffer the newbies to come unto us,
instructing them of the many truths
contained within the good book.
7 For who among us has never been
in a state of error or ignorance? 8
Consider carefully the following: 9
Blessed are they that "use strict;",
for their typos shall be caught
before trouble arises. 10 Blessed are
they that use "-w", for Perl itself
shall show them the error of their
ways. 11 Blessed are they that "use
CGI;", for their parameters shall be
passed without error. 12 Blessed are
they that use CPAN, for exceedingly
large shall be the number of wheels
that they do not re-invent.
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13 Blessed are they that understand
regexs, for they shall waste no
time trying to parse HTML. 14
Blessed are you, when "they" insult
you and ridicule you, and speak all
manner of evil against you for
using Perl, for great will be your
reward when your project is finished
in less time, and with less effort.
15 If there are those who refuse to
accept our wonderful message, do not
allow them to draw you into a
fruitless flame war, and thereby
bring disrepute upon yourselves and
our Monastery. 16 Remember well:
"What should it profit a man, if he
should win a flame war, yet lose his
cool?". 17 If this is an area
of weakness for you, as it is
for me, then I would encourage
you, my fellow Monasterians, to
consider a vow of silence as I
have done, speaking rarely and with
words carefully chosen to edify and
inform. 18 Brothers and sisters, I
commend you once again for restoring
my faith in the idea of a viable,
on-line community. And now, 19 May
your syntax always be correct
and your algorithms efficient. 20 May
your references point to good data,
and may you grow in the knowledge
and understanding of our beloved
language, Perl. 21 Amen and amen.
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