fred.doddridge.net

I’ve been temporarily assigned to the build team at work to help create a stable system for assembling test and customer deliverables. It’s a fun project to work on, but most of the system is written in Ruby, a relatively new language that is basically the Perl programming language in new clothing. By new clothing I mean that it has a dressed up syntax that I guess makes people feel warm and fuzzy inside, but from what I’ve seen that is the only substantive difference.

I’ve heard a lot of people grumble about Perl, how hard it is to do this, or how complicated it is to do that… or how frustrating it is that there are a dozen different ways to accomplish the same thing. I will usually respond with a quiet and condescending smile while they rant. Honestly I just don’t understand what they are whining about – Perl is one of the greatest languages ever created because of its flexibility. I suppose that those who gripe about it have likely not worked with it enough to see its beauty and power. And I suppose that for those people it is necessary to have another language that is almost exactly the same thing, but with a “simpler” syntax that draws the lines of acceptable code more clearly in the sand.

A pity if you ask me, but I will acquiesce. I will learn the Ruby syntax and follow the more rigid rules. A lot of people have built their identities, their careers, and even their religions on the Ruby language so there must be something to it.

We just won’t tell them that “that something” is really Perl!