http://qs321.pair.com?node_id=573649


in reply to The Importance of Being Earnest

Do you normally make yourself feel better by making fun of other people? So what if a single person asked for the script? Security doesn't imply programming.

I suppose we could be equally condescending to Jason for not being able to write it himself, or to you for having to write a script for something that's already a common tool.

This really has nothing to do with Perl. C or other languages can do the task equally well. Perl shows none of its strengths in your example. You simply use a function defined in a library.

I think you're an embarrasment to Perl in the same way you consider your victim an embarrasment to his company. It seems to me that you are just a mean person. Even if you did think he was as you say, that's still no reason for him to be the butt of your jokes, or a post here gloating over it.

--
brian d foy <brian@stonehenge.com>
Subscribe to The Perl Review

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: The Importance of Being Earnest
by zshzn (Hermit) on Sep 19, 2006 at 20:19 UTC
    No, I don't feel better for making fun of people, and I don't in this case. It was funny, not ego-satisfying.

    As I stated above, Jason was completely capable of writing this himself. Additionally, md5sum isn't very useful here.

    The example shows how very quick it is to write something useful in Perl. C can do it equally well, and of course quicker, but it would have taken me longer to write just by time lost in installing an md5 implementation.

    I'm sorry you feel that way. I think you have overestimated the amount of negative intent in my post. It was not posted to gloat (I have nothing to gloat about in the scenario) nor just to criticize. It was posted to start a bit of interesting discussion here.

    I think, perhaps, I am an embarrassment in an entirely different way. Maybe I'm an embarrassment because of being "mean", although I do very kindly help many people learn and use Perl, for free, and almost never turn down a request for help, and those helpful attitudes usually extend beyond Perl. I was at least mean in a way not related to Perl directly. Perhaps this consultant was embarrassing to his company because he doesn't give the impression of them being capable and intelligent consultants as a whole, although, as repeatedly pointed out in this thread, impressions aren't everything.

    I think your two posts here suggest you are a mean person as well. They are no more provoked than I was, yet they are entirely critical, while my post posed questions and tried to start discussion on the topic. I'm sorry for offending or angering you.

Re^2: The Importance of Being Earnest
by monarch (Priest) on Sep 20, 2006 at 16:11 UTC
    I think you're an embarrasment to Perl in the same way you consider your victim an embarrasment to his company. It seems to me that you are just a mean person.

    I decided not to vote on the above quote. But I'd like to make a comment on it anyway.

    Recently the Pope said something that, to some Muslims, was offensive. A few Muslims responded in a violent manner - including statements to the effect that those who insult the Muslim faith should suffer in some way.

    Any Muslim that made such extreme responses was, actually, insulting his own faith and therefore cursing himself.

    In this situation the original topic poster may have taken a question out of context by an employee of a security firm. But I would caution others to be careful about the possibility of taking the topic poster's post out of context, too, lest one points the finger back at himself unwittingly.

A reply falls below the community's threshold of quality. You may see it by logging in.