[anthk]

Saying that to a lingüist it's... interesting.

On Perl, CPAN was and it's still amazing, and lots of stuff came from that. For example, Mojolicious for the web, BioPerl for bioinformatics and Rivescript to write silly chatbots, among others. Oh, and pkg_* under OpenBSD.

INB4 gen-z's rant on "PeRl It'S UnRead@ble", check the intro from "perldoc perlintro".

EDIT: Unless I'm sure the deleted link it's right, I'd avoid posting it.

[fps_doug]

I'm more than two decades away from being gen-z, and I still agree with that sentiment. There might be that theoretical wise and disciplined Perl programmer writing well structured and readable code, but wherever I interfaced with people writing/maintaining Perl code, it was the most hastily thrown together crap that once was a small tool that "just worked" and then slowly grew completely out of hands over the years. You can have that in any language, but for some reason Perl always excelled at that discipline.

Also, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jK0ytvjv-E

[doomvox]

"... but wherever I interfaced with people writing/maintaining Perl code, it was the most hastily thrown together crap"

The badly written stuff needs more "maintenance", and the people who need to work on it are more likely to complain (and I think you're stuck on confirmation bias).

In the late-90s, the early web gold rush was on, and a lot of amateurs started writing perl in a hurry as their first language. The fact that they could do anything at all is actually pretty amazing, and I'd say that's a point in perl's favor.

[fps_doug]

I think my comment kinda agrees with this, maybe I didn't make it clear enough though. You can write good or bad code in any language. But because of this, a low barrier to entry is both a blessing and a curse. And as time passes, and the more people touch the code, the higher the chances you end up with something cursed.

So my aversion to Perl could be considered a pragmatic solution to that problem. :-)

[collyw]

I don't think that the problem is unique to Perl, but Perl syntax can make the problem so much worse.

[the_only_law]

> I'm more than two decades away from being gen-z, and I still agree with that sentiment.

Can’t really be a comment without a aside-from-the-point slurring

[chasd00]

iirc Perl was always described as the "duct tape of the internet" which encompasses the good and bad sides of Perl.

[collyw]

https://xkcd.com/224/

[cestith]

Be sure to blame the saw and the hammer, as it can't be the fault of the carpenter.

[collyw]

I am pretty sure that the human genome project was more responsible for BioPerl than CPAN was.

[cestith]

Please don't post links to pirated content.

[anthk]

I think Orelly themselves put these for free back in the day in its own domain. I have to seek archive.org in order to be sure.

I tought that because most of the books are outdated (15 years on IT it's an epoch), albeit the sed/awk/perl/*sh and Sendmail books are still godly useful.

[cestith]

I actually received a free book from O'Reilly once for pointing out the exact site you mentioned, so their lawyers could address it.

If you want these books very cheaply, the Perl CD Bookshelf usually sells for about $5 used. You get Perl in a Nutshell in print and a bunch of the other books on CD.

A better introduction to Perl these days is Modern Perl, which is available to read online for free or you can pay for a print book. http://modernperlbooks.com/

[collyw]

Stop pushing your own moral values onto others.

[cestith]

I don't know about you, but many of us on HN make our livings with things protected by copyright, trademark, and sometimes patents. Supporting the framework that enables our livelihoods is not a moral judgment. It is a practical concern.

Also, there are legal issues over promotion of pirated content.

Also, there are ethical concerns over pirating content that is easily and cheaply available legally.

Also, I said "Please" and didn't force anything on anyone.

Also, under a strict interpretation posting directly to pirated material is likely a violation of the Terms of Use for HN. https://www.ycombinator.com/legal/#tou

[collyw]

I said stop pushing, not stop forcing. And I didn't post pirated material I asked you to stop moralizing.