dots

larrywall

   1All language designers are arrogant.  Goes with the territory... :-)
   2             -- Larry Wall in <1991Jul13.010945.19157@netlabs.com
   3%
   4Although the Perl Slogan is There's More Than One Way to Do It, I hesitate
   5to make 10 ways to do something.  :-)
   6             -- Larry Wall in <9695@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
   7%
   8And don't tell me there isn't one bit of difference between null and space,
   9because that's exactly how much difference there is.  :-)
  10             -- Larry Wall in <10209@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
  11%
  12"And I don't like doing silly things (except on purpose)."
  13             -- Larry Wall in <1992Jul3.191825.14435@netlabs.com>
  14%
  15:        And it goes against the grain of building small tools.
  16Innocent, Your Honor.  Perl users build small tools all day long.
  17             -- Larry Wall in <1992Aug26.184221.29627@netlabs.com>
  18%
  19/* And you'll never guess what the dog had */
  20/*   in its mouth... */
  21             -- Larry Wall in stab.c from the perl source code
  22%
  23Because . doesn't match \n.  [\0-\377] is the most efficient way to match
  24everything currently.  Maybe \e should match everything.  And \E would
  25of course match nothing.   :-)
  26             -- Larry Wall in <9847@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
  27%
  28Be consistent.
  29             -- Larry Wall in the perl man page
  30%
  31Besides, including <std_ice_cubes.h> is a fatal error on machines that
  32don't have it yet.  Bad language design, there...  :-)
  33             -- Larry Wall in <1991Aug22.220929.6857@netlabs.com>
  34%
  35Besides, it's good to force C programmers to use the toolbox occasionally.  :-)
  36             -- Larry Wall in <1991May31.181659.28817@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov>
  37%
  38Besides, REAL computers have a rename() system call.    :-)
  39             -- Larry Wall in <7937@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
  40%
  41break;                          /* don't do magic till later */
  42             -- Larry Wall in stab.c from the perl source code
  43%
  44But you have to allow a little for the desire to evangelize when you
  45think you have good news.
  46             -- Larry Wall in <1992Aug26.184221.29627@netlabs.com>
  47%
  48Chip Salzenberg sent me a complete patch to add System V IPC (msg, sem and
  49shm calls), so I added them.  If that bothers you, you can always undefine
  50them in config.sh.  :-) -- Larry Wall in <9384@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
  51%
  52/* dbmrefcnt--;  */     /* doesn't work, rats */
  53             -- Larry Wall in hash.c from the perl source code
  54%
  55#define NULL 0           /* silly thing is, we don't even use this */
  56             -- Larry Wall in perl.c from the perl source code
  57%
  58#define SIGILL 6         /* blech */
  59             -- Larry Wall in perl.c from the perl source code
  60%
  61Does the same as the system call of that name.
  62If you don't know what it does, don't worry about it.
  63             -- Larry Wall in the perl man page regarding chroot(2)
  64%
  65double value;                /* or your money back! */
  66short changed;               /* so triple your money back! */
  67             -- Larry Wall in cons.c from the perl source code
  68%
  69Down that path lies madness.  On the other hand, the road to hell is
  70paved with melting snowballs.
  71             -- Larry Wall in <1992Jul2.222039.26476@netlabs.com>
  72%
  73echo "Congratulations.  You aren't running Eunice."
  74             -- Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution
  75%
  76echo "Hmmm...you don't have Berkeley networking in libc.a..."
  77echo "but the Wollongong group seems to have hacked it in."
  78             -- Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution
  79%
  80echo "ICK, NOTHING WORKED!!!  You may have to diddle the includes.";;
  81             -- Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution
  82%
  83echo $package has manual pages available in source form.
  84echo "However, you don't have nroff, so they're probably useless to you."
  85             -- Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution
  86%
  87echo "Your stdio isn't very std."
  88             -- Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution
  89%
  90#else /* !STDSTDIO */     /* The big, slow, and stupid way */
  91             -- Larry Wall in str.c from the perl source code
  92%
  93[End of diatribe.  We now return you to your regularly scheduled
  94programming...]
  95             -- Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution
  96%
  97Even if you aren't in doubt, consider the mental welfare of the person who
  98has to maintain the code after you, and who will probably put parens in
  99the wrong place.  -- Larry Wall in the perl man page
 100%
 101"Help save the world!"              -- Larry Wall in README
 102%
 103Hey, I had to let awk be better at *something*...  :-)
 104             -- Larry Wall in <1991Nov7.200504.25280@netlabs.com>1
 105%
 106I already have too much problem with people thinking the efficiency of
 107a perl construct is related to its length.  On the other hand, I'm
 108perfectly capable of changing my mind next week...  :-) --lwall
 109%
 110I don't know if it's what you want, but it's what you get.  :-)
 111             -- Larry Wall in <10502@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 112%
 113I dunno, I dream in Perl sometimes...
 114             -- Larry Wall in  <8538@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 115%
 116If I allowed "next $label" then I'd also have to allow "goto $label",
 117and I don't think you really want that...  :-)
 118             -- Larry Wall in <1991Mar11.230002.27271@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov>
 119%
 120If I don't document something, it's usually either for a good reason,
 121or a bad reason.  In this case it's a good reason.  :-)
 122             -- Larry Wall in <1992Jan17.005405.16806@netlabs.com>
 123%
 124"I find this a nice feature but it is not according to the documentation.
 125Or is it a BUG?"
 126"Let's call it an accidental feature. :-)"
 127             -- Larry Wall in <6909@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 128%
 129if (instr(buf,sys_errlist[errno]))  /* you don't see this */
 130             -- Larry Wall in eval.c from the perl source code
 131%
 132if (rsfp = mypopen("/bin/mail root","w")) {     /* heh, heh */
 133             -- Larry Wall in perl.c from the perl source code
 134%
 135If you consistently take an antagonistic approach, however, people are
 136going to start thinking you're from New York.   :-)
 137             -- Larry Wall to Dan Bernstein in <10187@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 138%
 139If you want to program in C, program in C.  It's a nice language.  I
 140use it occasionally...   :-)
 141             -- Larry Wall in <7577@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 142%
 143If you want to see useful Perl examples, we can certainly arrange to have
 144comp.lang.misc flooded with them, but I don't think that would help the
 145advance of civilization.  :-)
 146             -- Larry Wall in <1992Mar5.180926.19041@netlabs.com>
 147%
 148If you want your program to be readable, consider supplying the argument.
 149             -- Larry Wall in the perl man page
 150%
 151I know it's weird, but it does make it easier to write poetry in perl.    :-)
 152             -- Larry Wall in <7865@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 153%
 154I'll say it again for the logic impaired.
 155             -- Larry Wall
 156%
 157I might be able to shoehorn a reference count in on top of the numeric
 158value by disallowing multiple references on scalars with a numeric value,
 159but it wouldn't be as clean.  I do occasionally worry about that. --lwall
 160%
 161I'm sure that that could be indented more readably, but I'm scared of
 162the awk parser.
 163             -- Larry Wall in <6849@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 164%
 165In general, if you think something isn't in Perl, try it out, because it
 166usually is.  :-)
 167             -- Larry Wall in <1991Jul31.174523.9447@netlabs.com>
 168%
 169In general, they do what you want, unless you want consistency.
 170             -- Larry Wall in the perl man page
 171%
 172Interestingly enough, since subroutine declarations can come anywhere,
 173you wouldn't have to put BEGIN {} at the beginning, nor END {} at the
 174end.  Interesting, no?  I wonder if Henry would like it. :-) --lwall
 175%
 176I think it's a new feature.  Don't tell anyone it was an accident.  :-)
 177         -- Larry Wall on s/foo/bar/eieio in <10911@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 178%
 179"It is easier to port a shell than a shell script."
 180             -- Larry Wall
 181%
 182It is, of course, written in Perl.  Translation to C is left as an
 183exercise for the reader.  :-)  -- Larry Wall in <7448@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 184%
 185It's all magic.  :-)
 186             -- Larry Wall in <7282@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 187%
 188It's documented in The Book, somewhere...
 189             -- Larry Wall in <10502@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 190%
 191> (It's sorta like sed, but not.  It's sorta like awk, but not.  etc.)
 192Guilty as charged.  Perl is happily ugly, and happily derivative.
 193             -- Larry Wall in <1992Aug26.184221.29627@netlabs.com>
 194%
 195It's there as a sop to former Ada programmers.  :-)
 196     -- Larry Wall regarding 10_000_000 in <11556@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 197%
 198It won't be covered in the book.  The source code has to be useful for
 199something, after all...  :-)
 200             -- Larry Wall in <10160@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 201%
 202:  I've heard that there is a shell (bourne or csh) to perl filter, does
 203:  anyone know of this or where I can get it?
 204Yeah, you filter it through Tom Christiansen.  :-)  -- Larry Wall
 205%
 206:       I've tried (in vi) "g/[a-z]\n[a-z]/s//_/"...but that doesn't
 207: cut it.  Any ideas?  (I take it that it may be a two-pass sort of solution).
 208In the first pass, install perl. :-)
 209             -- Larry Wall <6849@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 210%
 211I won't mention any names, because I don't want to get sun4's into
 212trouble...  :-)     -- Larry Wall in <11333@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 213%
 214Just don't compare it with a real language, or you'll be unhappy...  :-)
 215             -- Larry Wall in <1992May12.190238.5667@netlabs.com>
 216%
 217Just don't create a file called -rf.  :-)
 218             -- Larry Wall in <11393@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 219%
 220last|perl -pe '$_ x=/(..:..)...(.*)/&&"'$1'"ge$1&&"'$1'"lt$2'
 221That's gonna be tough for Randal to beat...  :-)
 222             -- Larry Wall in  <1991Apr29.072206.5621@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov>
 223%
 224Let's say the docs present a simplified view of reality...    :-)
 225             -- Larry Wall in  <6940@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 226%
 227Let us be charitable, and call it a misleading feature  :-)
 228             -- Larry Wall in <2609@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
 229%
 230Lispers are among the best grads of the Sweep-It-Under-Someone-Else's-Carpet
 231School of Simulated Simplicity.  [Was that sufficiently incendiary?  :-)]
 232             -- Larry Wall in <1992Jan10.201804.11926@netlabs.com
 233%
 234No, I'm not going to explain it.  If you can't figure it out, you didn't
 235want to know anyway...  :-)
 236             -- Larry Wall in <1991Aug7.180856.2854@netlabs.com>
 237%
 238/* now make a new head in the exact same spot */
 239             -- Larry Wall in cons.c from the perl source code
 240%
 241OK, enough hype.
 242             -- Larry Wall in the perl man page
 243%
 244OOPS!  You naughty creature!  You didn't run Configure with sh!
 245I will attempt to remedy the situation by running sh for you...
 246             -- Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution
 247%
 248Perl is designed to give you several ways to do anything, so
 249consider picking the most readable one.
 250             -- Larry Wall in the perl man page
 251%
 252Perl itself is usually pretty good about telling you what you shouldn't
 253do. :-)
 254             -- Larry Wall in <11091@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 255%
 256Perl programming is an *empirical* science!
 257             -- Larry Wall in <10226@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 258%
 259pos += screamnext[pos]  /* does this goof up anywhere? */
 260             -- Larry Wall in util.c from the perl source code
 261%
 262Q. Why is this so clumsy?
 263A. The trick is to use Perl's strengths rather than its weaknesses.
 264             -- Larry Wall in <8225@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 265%
 266Randal said it would be tough to do in sed.  He didn't say he didn't
 267understand sed.  Randal understands sed quite well.  Which is why he
 268uses Perl.   :-)  -- Larry Wall in <7874@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 269%
 270Real programmers can write assembly code in any language.   :-)
 271             -- Larry Wall in  <8571@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 272%
 273Remember though that
 274THERE IS NO GENERAL RULE FOR CONVERTING A LIST INTO A SCALAR.
 275             -- Larry Wall in the perl man page
 276%
 277s = (char*)(long)retval;                /* ouch */
 278             -- Larry Wall in doio.c from the perl source code
 279%
 280signal(i, SIG_DFL); /* crunch, crunch, crunch */
 281             -- Larry Wall in doarg.c from the perl source code
 282%
 283Sorry.  My testing organization is either too small, or too large, depending
 284on how you look at it.  :-)
 285             -- Larry Wall in <1991Apr22.175438.8564@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov>
 286%
 287stab_val(stab)->str_nok = 1;    /* what a wonderful hack! */
 288             -- Larry Wall in stab.c from the perl source code
 289%
 290str->str_pok |= SP_FBM;                     /* deep magic */
 291s = (unsigned char*)(str->str_ptr);         /* deeper magic */
 292             -- Larry Wall in util.c from the perl source code
 293%
 294Tactical?  TACTICAL!?!?  Hey, buddy, we went from kilotons to megatons
 295several minutes ago.  We don't need no stinkin' tactical nukes.
 296(By the way, do you have change for 10 million people?) --lwall
 297%
 298That means I'll have to use $ans to suppress newlines now.
 299Life is ridiculous.
 300             -- Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution
 301%
 302The autodecrement is not magical.
 303             -- Larry Wall in the perl man page
 304%
 305The only disadvantage I see is that it would force everyone to get Perl.
 306Horrors.  :-)
 307             -- Larry Wall in  <8854@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 308%
 309*** The previous line contains the naughty word "$&".\n
 310if /(ibm|apple|awk)/;      # :-)
 311             -- Larry Wall in the perl man page
 312%
 313There ain't nothin' in this world that's worth being a snot over.
 314             -- Larry Wall in <1992Aug19.041614.6963@netlabs.com>
 315%
 316There are many times when you want it to ignore the rest of the string just
 317like atof() does.  Oddly enough, Perl calls atof().  How convenient.  :-)
 318             -- Larry Wall in <1991Jun24.231628.14446@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov>
 319%
 320There are probably better ways to do that, but it would make the parser
 321more complex.  I do, occasionally, struggle feebly against complexity...  :-)
 322             -- Larry Wall in <7886@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 323%
 324There are still some other things to do, so don't think if I didn't fix
 325your favorite bug that your bug report is in the bit bucket.  (It may be,
 326but don't think it.  :-)  Larry Wall in <7238@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 327%
 328There is, however, a strange, musty smell in the air that reminds me of
 329something...hmm...yes...I've got it...there's a VMS nearby, or I'm a Blit.
 330             -- Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution
 331%
 332"The road to hell is paved with melting snowballs."
 333             -- Larry Wall in  <1992Jul2.222039.26476@netlabs.com>
 334%
 335/* This bit of chicanery makes a unary function followed by
 336a parenthesis into a function with one argument, highest precedence. */
 337             -- Larry Wall in toke.c from the perl source code
 338%
 339"...this does not mean that some of us should not want, in a rather
 340dispassionate sort of way, to put a bullet through csh's head."
 341Larry Wall in <1992Aug6.221512.5963@netlabs.com>
 342%
 343> This made me wonder, suddenly: can telnet be written in perl?
 344Of course it can be written in Perl.  Now if you'd said nroff,
 345that would be more challenging...   -- Larry Wall
 346%
 347Though I'll admit readability suffers slightly...
 348             -- Larry Wall in <2969@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
 349%
 350tmps_base = tmps_max;                /* protect our mortal string */
 351             -- Larry Wall in stab.c from the perl source code
 352%
 353Unix is like a toll road on which you have to stop every 50 feet to
 354pay another nickel.  But hey!  You only feel 5 cents poorer each time.
 355             -- Larry Wall in <1992Aug13.192357.15731@netlabs.com>
 356%
 357"We all agree on the necessity of compromise.  We just can't agree on
 358when it's necessary to compromise."
 359             -- Larry Wall in  <1991Nov13.194420.28091@netlabs.com>
 360%
 361/* we have tried to make this normal case as abnormal as possible */
 362             -- Larry Wall in cmd.c from the perl source code
 363%
 364What about WRITING it first and rationalizing it afterwords?  :-)
 365             -- Larry Wall in <8162@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 366%
 367: 1.  What is the possibility of this being added in the future?
 368In the near future, the probability is close to zero.  In the distant
 369future, I'll be dead, and posterity can do whatever they like...  :-) --lwall
 370%
 371"What is the sound of Perl?  Is it not the sound of a wall that
 372people have stopped banging their heads against?"
 373             -- Larry Wall in <1992Aug26.184221.29627@netlabs.com>
 374%
 375When in doubt, parenthesize.  At the very least it will let some
 376poor schmuck bounce on the % key in vi.
 377             -- Larry Wall in the perl man page
 378%
 379"You can't have filenames longer than 14 chars.
 380You can't even think about them!"
 381             -- Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution
 382%
 383You have to admit that it's difficult to misplace the Perl sources.  :-)
 384             -- Larry Wall in <1992Aug26.184221.29627@netlabs.com>
 385%
 386Your csh still thinks true is false.  Write to your vendor today and tell
 387them that next year Configure ought to "rm /bin/csh" unless they fix their
 388blasted shell. :-)   -- Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution
 389%
 390You want it in one line?  Does it have to fit in 80 columns?   :-)
 391             -- Larry Wall in <7349@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
 392%
 393Well, enough clowning around.  Perl is, in intent, a cleaned up and
 394summarized version of that wonderful semi-natural language known as
 395"Unix".
 396             -- Larry Wall in <1994Apr6.184419.3687@netlabs.com>
 397%
 398Anyway, there's plenty of room for doubt.  It might seem easy enough,
 399but computer language design is just like a stroll in the park.
 400
 401Jurassic Park, that is.
 402             -- Larry Wall in <1994Jun15.074039.2654@netlabs.com>
 403%
 404I want to see people using Perl to glue things together creatively, not
 405just technically but also socially.
 406             -- Larry Wall in <199702111730.JAA28598@wall.org>
 407%
 408The whole history of computers is rampant with cheerleading at best and
 409bigotry at worst.
 410             -- Larry Wall in <199702111730.JAA28598@wall.org>
 411%
 412If someone stinks, view it as a reason to help them, not a reason to
 413avoid them.
 414             -- Larry Wall in <199702111730.JAA28598@wall.org>
 415%
 416As usual, I'm overstating the case to knock a few neurons loose, but the
 417truth is usually somewhere in the muddle, uh, middle.
 418             -- Larry Wall in <199702111639.IAA28425@wall.org>
 419%
 420Odd that we think definitions are definitive.   :-)
 421             -- Larry Wall in <199702221943.LAA20388@wall.org>
 422%
 423: But for some things, Perl just isn't the optimal choice.
 424
 425(yet)   :-)
 426             -- Larry Wall in <199702221943.LAA20388@wall.org>
 427%
 428I don't like this official/unofficial distinction.  It sound, er, officious.
 429             -- Larry Wall in <199702221943.LAA20388@wall.org>
 430%
 431If you write something wrong enough, I'll be glad to make up a new
 432witticism just for you.
 433             -- Larry Wall in <199702221943.LAA20388@wall.org>
 434%
 435So far we've managed to avoid turning Perl into APL.  :-)
 436             -- Larry Wall in <199702251904.LAA28261@wall.org>
 437%
 438Not that I have anything much against redundancy.  But I said that already.
 439             -- Larry Wall in <199702271735.JAA04048@wall.org>
 440%
 441They can always run stderr through uniq.  :-)
 442             -- Larry Wall in <199704012331.PAA16535@wall.org>
 443%
 444I'd put my money where my mouth is, but my mouth keeps moving.
 445             -- Larry Wall in <199704051723.JAA28035@wall.org>
 446%
 447Of course, I reserve the right to make wholly stupid changes to Perl
 448if I think they improve the language.  :-)
 449             -- Larry Wall in <199704251604.JAA27300@wall.org>
 450%
 451Call me bored, but don't call me boring.
 452             -- Larry Wall in <199705101952.MAA00756@wall.org>
 453%
 454I think $[ is more like a coelacanth than a mastadon.
 455             -- Larry Wall in <199705101952.MAA00756@wall.org>
 456%
 457We question most of the mantras around here periodically, in case
 458you hadn't noticed.  :-)
 459             -- Larry Wall in <199705101952.MAA00756@wall.org>
 460%
 461(Presuming for the sake of argument that it's even *possible* to design
 462better code in Perl than in C.  :-)
 463    -- Larry Wall on core code vs. module code design
 464%
 465That could certainly be done, but I don't want to fall into the Forth
 466trap, where every running Forth implementation is really a different
 467language.
 468             -- Larry Wall in <199705101952.MAA00756@wall.org>
 469%
 470Tcl long ago fell into the Forth trap, and is now trying desperately to
 471extricate itself (with some help from Sun's marketing department).
 472             -- Larry Wall in <199705101952.MAA00756@wall.org>
 473%
 474The whole intent of Perl 5's module system was to encourage the growth
 475of Perl culture rather than the Perl core.
 476             -- Larry Wall in <199705101952.MAA00756@wall.org>
 477%
 478Randal can write one-liners again.  Everyone is happy, and peace spreads
 479over the whole Earth.
 480             -- Larry Wall in <199705101952.MAA00756@wall.org>
 481%
 482Life gets boring, someone invents another necessity, and once again we
 483turn the crank on the screwjack of progress hoping that nobody gets
 484screwed.
 485             -- Larry Wall in <199705101952.MAA00756@wall.org>
 486%
 487No prisoner's dilemma here.  Over the long term, symbiosis is more
 488useful than parasitism.  More fun, too.  Ask any mitochondria.
 489             -- Larry Wall in <199705102042.NAA00851@wall.org>
 490%
 491Obviously I was either onto something, or on something.
 492             -- Larry Wall on the creation of Perl
 493%
 494It's the Magic that counts.
 495             -- Larry Wall on Perl's apparent ugliness
 496%
 497May you do Good Magic with Perl.
 498             -- Larry Wall's blessing
 499%
 500P.S. Perl's master plan (or what passes for one) is to take over the
 501world like English did.  Er, *as* English did...
 502             -- Larry Wall in <199705201832.LAA28393@wall.org>
 503%
 504You can prove anything by mentioning another computer language.  :-)
 505             -- Larry Wall in <199706242038.NAA29853@wall.org>
 506%
 507I think you didn't get a reply because you used the terms "correct" and
 508"proper", neither of which has much meaning in Perl culture.  :-)
 509             -- Larry Wall in <199706251602.JAA01786@wall.org>
 510%
 511I'm sure a mathematician would claim that 0 and 1 are both very
 512interesting numbers.  :-)
 513             -- Larry Wall in <199707300650.XAA05515@wall.org>
 514%
 515True, it returns "" for false, but "" is an even more interesting
 516number than 0.
 517             -- Larry Wall in <199707300650.XAA05515@wall.org>
 518%
 519Any false value is gonna be fairly boring in Perl, mathematicians
 520notwithstanding.
 521             -- Larry Wall in <199707300650.XAA05515@wall.org>
 522%
 523We didn't put in ^^ because then we'd have to keep telling people what
 524it means, and then we'd have to keep telling them why it doesn't short
 525circuit.  :-/
 526             -- Larry Wall in <199707300650.XAA05515@wall.org>
 527%
 528Anybody want a binary telemetry frame editor written in Perl?
 529             -- Larry Wall in <199708012226.PAA22015@wall.org>
 530%
 531Perhaps I'm missing the gene for making enemies.  :-)
 532             -- Larry Wall in <199708040319.UAA16213@wall.org>
 533%
 534Perl has a long tradition of working around compilers.
 535             -- Larry Wall in <199708252256.PAA00105@wall.org>
 536%
 537Personally, I like to defiantly split my infinitives.  :-)
 538             -- Larry Wall in <199708271551.IAA10211@wall.org>
 539%
 540Real theology is always rather shocking to people who already
 541think they know what they think.  I'm still shocked myself.  :-)
 542             -- Larry Wall in <199708261932.MAA05218@wall.org>
 543%
 544The computer should be doing the hard work.  That's what it's paid to do,
 545after all.
 546             -- Larry Wall in <199709012312.QAA08121@wall.org>
 547%
 548The following two statements are usually both true:
 549	There's not enough documentation.
 550	There's too much documentation.
 551             -- Larry Wall in <199709020026.RAA08431@wall.org>
 552%
 553Of course, this being Perl, we could always take both approaches.  :-)
 554             -- Larry Wall in <199709021744.KAA12428@wall.org>
 555%
 556The random quantum fluctuations of my brain are historical accidents that
 557happen to have decided that the concepts of dynamic scoping and lexical
 558scoping are orthogonal and should remain that way.
 559             -- Larry Wall in <199709021854.LAA12794@wall.org>
 560%
 561At many levels, Perl is a "diagonal" language.
 562             -- Larry Wall in <199709021854.LAA12794@wall.org>
 563%
 564I'm serious about thinking through all the possibilities before we
 565settle on anything.  All things have the advantages of their
 566disadvantages, and vice versa.
 567             -- Larry Wall in <199709032332.QAA21669@wall.org>
 568%
 569Part of language design is purturbing the proposed feature in various
 570directions to see how it might generalize in the future.
 571             -- Larry Wall in <199709032332.QAA21669@wall.org>
 572%
 573Sometimes we choose the generalization.  Sometimes we don't.
 574             -- Larry Wall in <199709032332.QAA21669@wall.org>
 575%
 576I wouldn't ever write the full sentence myself, but then, I never use
 577goto either.
 578             -- Larry Wall in <199709032332.QAA21669@wall.org>
 579%
 580It's appositival, if it's there.  And it doesn't have to be there.
 581And it's really obvious that it's there when it's there.
 582             -- Larry Wall in <199709032332.QAA21669@wall.org>
 583%
 584Oh, get ahold of yourself.  Nobody's proposing that we parse English.
 585             -- Larry Wall in <199709032332.QAA21669@wall.org>
 586%
 587As with all the other proposals, it's basically just a list of words.
 588You can deal with that... :-)
 589             -- Larry Wall in <199709032332.QAA21669@wall.org>
 590%
 591I hope I'm not getting so famous that I can't think out load [sic] anymore.
 592             -- Larry Wall in <199709032332.QAA21669@wall.org>
 593%
 594It would be possible to optimize some forms of goto, but I haven't
 595bothered.
 596             -- Larry Wall in <199709041935.MAA27136@wall.org>
 597%
 598A "goto" in Perl falls into the category of hard things that should be
 599possible, not easy things that should be easy.
 600             -- Larry Wall in <199709041935.MAA27136@wall.org>
 601%
 602How do Crays and Alphas handle the POSIX problem?
 603             -- Larry Wall in <199709050042.RAA29379@wall.org>
 604%
 605Well, that's more-or-less what I was saying, though obviously addition
 606is a little more cosmic than the bitwise operators.
 607             -- Larry Wall in <199709051808.LAA01780@wall.org>
 608%
 609You tell it that it's indicative by appending $!.  That's why we made $!
 610such a short variable name, after all.  :-)
 611             -- Larry Wall in <199709081801.LAA20629@wall.org>
 612%
 613The choice of approaches could be made the responsibility of the
 614programmer.
 615             -- Larry Wall in <199709081901.MAA20863@wall.org>
 616%
 617As someone pointed out, you could have an attribute that says "optimize
 618the heck out of this routine", and your definition of heck would be a
 619parameter to the optimizer.
 620             -- Larry Wall in <199709081854.LAA20830@wall.org>
 621%
 622If you're going to define a shortcut, then make it the base [sic] darn
 623shortcut you can.
 624             -- Larry Wall in <199709241628.JAA08908@wall.org>
 625%
 626It is my job in life to travel all roads, so that some may take the road
 627less travelled, and others the road more travelled, and all have a
 628pleasant day.
 629             -- Larry Wall in <199709241628.JAA08908@wall.org>
 630%
 631It's getting harder and harder to think out loud.  One of these days
 632someone's gonna go off and kill Thomas a'Becket for me...
 633             -- Larry Wall in <199709242015.NAA10312@wall.org>
 634%
 635I was about to say, "Avoid fame like the plague," but you know, they can
 636cure the plague with penicillin these days.
 637             -- Larry Wall in <199709242015.NAA10312@wall.org>
 638%
 639But the possibility of abuse may be a good reason for leaving
 640capabilities out of other computer languages, it's not a good reason for
 641leaving capabilities out of Perl.
 642             -- Larry Wall in <199709251614.JAA15718@wall.org>
 643%
 644Oh, wait, that was Randal...nevermind...
 645             -- Larry Wall in <199709261754.KAA23761@wall.org>
 646%
 647P.S.  I suppose I really should be nicer to people today, considering
 648I'll be singing in Billy Graham's choir tonight...   :-)
 649             -- Larry Wall in <199709261754.KAA23761@wall.org>
 650%
 651Magically turning people's old scalar contexts into list contexts is a
 652recipe for several kinds of disaster.
 653             -- Larry Wall in <199709291631.JAA08648@wall.org>
 654%
 655And we can always supply them with a program that makes identical files
 656into links to a single file.
 657             -- Larry Wall in <199709292012.NAA09616@wall.org>
 658%
 659I wasn't recommending that we make the links for them, only provide them
 660with the tools to do so if they want to take the gamble (or the gambol).
 661             -- Larry Wall in <199709292259.PAA10407@wall.org>
 662%
 663This has been planned for some time.  I guess we'll just have to find
 664someone with an exceptionally round tuit.
 665             -- Larry Wall in <199709302338.QAA17037@wall.org>
 666%
 667    switch (ref $@) {
 668    OverflowError =>
 669	warn "Dam needs to be drained";
 670    DomainError =>
 671	warn "King needs to be trained";
 672    NuclearWarError =>
 673	die;
 674    }
 675             -- Larry Wall in <199709302338.QAA17037@wall.org>
 676%
 677I surely do hope that's a syntax error.
 678             -- Larry Wall in <199710011752.KAA21624@wall.org>
 679%
 680Anyway, my money is still on use strict vars . . .
 681             -- Larry Wall in <199710011704.KAA21395@wall.org>
 682%
 683If you remove stricture from a large Perl program currently, you're just
 684installing delayed bugs, whereas with this feature, you're installing an
 685instant bug that's easily fixed.  Whoopee.
 686             -- Larry Wall in <199710050130.SAA04762@wall.org>
 687%
 688I don't think it's worth washing hogs over.
 689             -- Larry Wall in <199710060253.TAA09723@wall.org>
 690%
 691It's certainly easy to calculate the average attendance for Perl
 692conferences.
 693             -- Larry Wall in <199710071721.KAA19014@wall.org>
 694%
 695Tcl tends to get ported to weird places like routers.
 696             -- Larry Wall in <199710071721.KAA19014@wall.org>
 697%
 698Historically Tcl has always stored all intermediate results as strings.
 699(With 8.0 they're rethinking that.  Of course, Perl rethought that from
 700the start.)
 701             -- Larry Wall in <199710071721.KAA19014@wall.org>
 702%
 703I knew I'd hate COBOL the moment I saw they'd used "perform" instead of
 704"do".
 705             -- Larry Wall on a not-so-popular programming language
 706%
 707Just don't make the '9' format pack/unpack numbers...  :-)
 708             -- Larry Wall in <199710091434.HAA00838@wall.org>
 709%
 710I think that's easier to read.  Pardon me.  Less difficult to read.
 711             -- Larry Wall in <199710120226.TAA06867@wall.org>
 712%
 713To ordinary folks, conversion is not always automatic.  It's something
 714that may or may not require explicit assistance.  See Billy Graham.  :-)
 715             -- Larry Wall in <199710141738.KAA22289@wall.org>
 716%
 717Well, you can implement a Perl peek() with unpack('P',...).  Once you
 718have that, there's only security through obscurity.  :-)
 719             -- Larry Wall in <199710161537.IAA07828@wall.org>
 720%
 721It may be possible to get this condition from within Perl if a signal
 722handler runs at just the wrong moment.  Another point for Chip...  :-)
 723             -- Larry Wall in <199710161546.IAA07885@wall.org>
 724%
 725As pointed out in a followup, Real Perl Programmers prefer things to be
 726visually distinct.
 727             -- Larry Wall in <199710161841.LAA13208@wall.org>
 728%
 729The Harvard Law states:  Under controlled conditions of light, temperature,
 730humidity, and nutrition, the organism will do as it damn well pleases.
 731             -- Larry Wall in <199710161841.LAA13208@wall.org>
 732%
 733That should probably be written:
 734    no !@#$%^&*:@!semicolon
 735             -- Larry Wall in <199710161841.LAA13208@wall.org>
 736%
 737That gets us out of deciding how to spell Reg[eE]xp?|RE . . .
 738Of course, then we have to decide what ref $re returns...  :-)
 739             -- Larry Wall in <199710171838.LAA24968@wall.org>
 740%
 741'Course, that doesn't work when 'a' contains parentheses.
 742             -- Larry Wall in <199710211647.JAA17957@wall.org>
 743%
 744I was trying not to mention backtracking.  Which, of course, means that
 745yours is "righter" than mine, in a theoretical sense.
 746             -- Larry Wall in <199710211624.JAA17833@wall.org>
 747%
 748Not that I'm against sneaking some notions into people's heads upon
 749occasion.  (Or blasting them in outright.)
 750             -- Larry Wall in <199710211624.JAA17833@wall.org>
 751%
 752(To the extent that anyone but a Prolog programmer can understand \X totally.
 753(And to the extent that a Prolog programmer can understand "cut". :-))
 754             -- Larry Wall in <199710211624.JAA17833@wall.org>
 755%
 756Wow, I'm being shot at from both sides.  That means I *must* be right.  :-)
 757             -- Larry Wall in <199710211959.MAA18990@wall.org>
 758%
 759You don't have to wait--you can have it in 5.004_54 or so.  :-)
 760             -- Larry Wall in <199710221740.KAA24455@wall.org>
 761%
 762There's something to be said for returning the whole syntax tree.
 763             -- Larry Wall in <199710221833.LAA24741@wall.org>
 764%
 765It's not really a rule--it's more like a trend.
 766             -- Larry Wall in <199710221721.KAA24321@wall.org>
 767%
 768Double *sigh*.  _04 is going onto thousands of CDs even as we speak,
 769so to speak.
 770             -- Larry Wall in <199710221718.KAA24299@wall.org>
 771%
 772The code also assumes that it's difficult to misspell "a" or "b".  :-)
 773             -- Larry Wall in <199710221731.KAA24396@wall.org>
 774%
 775Well, hey, let's just make everything into a closure, and then we'll
 776have our general garbage collector, installed by "use less memory".
 777             -- Larry Wall in <199710221744.KAA24484@wall.org>
 778%
 779People who understand context would be steamed to have someone else
 780dictating how they can call it.
 781             -- Larry Wall in <199710221710.KAA24242@wall.org>
 782%
 783For the sake of argument I'll ignore all your fighting words.
 784             -- Larry Wall in <199710221710.KAA24242@wall.org>
 785%
 786Think of prototypes as a funny markup language--the interpretation is
 787left up to the rendering engine.
 788             -- Larry Wall in <199710221710.KAA24242@wall.org>
 789%
 790The way these things go, there are probably 6 or 8 kludgey ways to do
 791it, and a better way that involves rethinking something that hasn't
 792been rethunk yet.
 793             -- Larry Wall in <199710221859.LAA24889@wall.org>
 794%
 795Beauty?  What's that?
 796             -- Larry Wall in <199710221937.MAA25131@wall.org>
 797%
 798I'm afraid my gut level reaction is basically, "'proceed' is cute, but
 799cute doesn't cut it in the emergency room."
 800             -- Larry Wall in <199710281816.KAA29614@wall.org>
 801%
 802I suppose one could claim that an undocumented feature has no
 803semantics.  :-(
 804             -- Larry Wall in <199710290036.QAA01818@wall.org>
 805%
 806Yes, we have consensus that we need 64 bit support.  :-)
 807             -- Larry Wall in <199710291922.LAA07101@wall.org>
 808%
 809:  - cut in regexps
 810
 811I don't think we reached consensus on that.  We're still backtracking...
 812             -- Larry Wall in <199710291922.LAA07101@wall.org>
 813%
 814Boss:   You forgot to assign the result of your map!
 815Hacker: Dang, I'm always forgetting my assignations...
 816Boss:   And what's that "goto" doing there?!?
 817Hacker: Er, I guess my finger slipped when I was typing "getservbyport"...
 818Boss:   Ah well, accidents will happen.  Maybe we should have picked APL.
 819             -- Larry Wall in <199710311732.JAA19169@wall.org>
 820%
 821Perhaps they will have to outlaw sending random lists of words.  fee fie
 822foe foo
 823             -- Larry Wall in <199710311916.LAA19760@wall.org>
 824%
 825Hey, if pi == 3, and three == 0, does that make pi == 0?  :-)
 826             -- Larry Wall in <199711011926.LAA25557@wall.org>
 827%
 828(Never thought I'd be telling Malcolm and Ilya the same thing... :-)
 829             -- Larry Wall in <199711071819.KAA29909@wall.org>
 830%
 831And other operators aren't so special syntactically, but weird
 832in other ways, like "scalar", and "goto".
 833             -- Larry Wall in <199711071749.JAA29751@wall.org>
 834%
 835Portability should be the default.
 836             -- Larry Wall in <199711072201.OAA01123@wall.org>
 837%
 838If this were Ada, I suppose we'd just constant fold 1/0 into
 839
 840    die "Illegal division by zero"
 841             -- Larry Wall in <199711100226.SAA12549@wall.org>
 842%
 843Are you perchance running on a 64-bit machine?
 844             -- Larry Wall in <199711102149.NAA16878@wall.org>
 845%
 846Almost nothing in Perl serves a single purpose.
 847             -- Larry Wall in <199712040054.QAA13811@wall.org>
 848%
 849There's some entertainment value in watching people juggle nitroglycerin.
 850             -- Larry Wall in <199712041747.JAA18908@wall.org>
 851%
 852Reserve your abuse for your true friends.
 853             -- Larry Wall in <199712041852.KAA19364@wall.org>
 854%
 855Er, Tom, I hate to be the one to point this out, but your fix list
 856is starting to resemble a feature list.  You must be human or something.
 857             -- Larry Wall in <199801081824.KAA29602@wall.org>
 858%
 859It's hard to tune heavily tuned code.  :-)
 860             -- Larry Wall in <199801141725.JAA07555@wall.org>
 861%
 862Perl will always provide the null.
 863             -- Larry Wall in <199801151818.KAA14538@wall.org>
 864%
 865It's easy to solve the halting problem with a shotgun.   :-)
 866             -- Larry Wall in <199801151836.KAA14656@wall.org>
 867%
 868Well, I think Perl should run faster than C.  :-)
 869             -- Larry Wall in <199801200306.TAA11638@wall.org>
 870%
 871To Perl, or not to Perl, that is the kvetching.
 872             -- Larry Wall in <199801200310.TAA11670@wall.org>
 873%
 874I suppose you could switch grammars once you've seen "use strict subs".  :-)
 875             -- Larry Wall in <199804140117.SAA02006@wall.org>
 876%
 877Well, you know, Hubbard had a bunch of people sworn to commit suicide
 878when he died.  So of course he never officially died...
 879             -- Larry Wall in <199804141540.IAA05247@wall.org>
 880%
 881Even the White House has a press agent.  :-)
 882             -- Larry Wall in <199804150048.RAA08083@wall.org>
 883%
 884That's a valid argument.  I just don't think it's valid enough.  :-)
 885             -- Larry Wall in <199804150050.RAA08093@wall.org>
 886%
 887Perl should remain fast and intuitive (to the extent that it is :-)
 888             -- Larry Wall in <199804151704.KAA12290@wall.org>
 889%
 890I would estimate that the number of programs it breaks in the world
 891will be less than 10.  As long as one of those 10 isn't CGI.pm, we're
 892probably okay.
 893             -- Larry Wall in <199804161805.LAA18882@wall.org>
 894%
 895Just put in another goto, and then it'll be readable.  :-)
 896             -- Larry Wall in <199804161810.LAA18902@wall.org>
 897%
 898Doing linear scans over an associative array is like trying to club
 899someone to death with a loaded Uzi.
 900             -- Larry Wall
 901%
 902I'm reminded of the day my daughter came in, looked over my shoulder at
 903some Perl 4 code, and said, "What is that, swearing?"
 904             -- Larry Wall in <199806181642.JAA10629@wall.org>
 905%
 906Y'know, there are other possibilities if we assume that filenames
 907are UTF-8...yikes...wait, put down that meat cleaver!  Aieeee!!!
 908             -- Larry Wall in <199806181655.JAA10702@wall.org>
 909%
 910    print rand rand rand 1, "\n";	# interesting distribution
 911             -- Larry Wall in <199806191536.IAA19013@wall.org>
 912%
 913: I could understand principles of Perl source in 2-3 days [. . .]
 914
 915Gee, it took me about eleven years.  :-)
 916             -- Larry Wall in <199806200201.TAA22277@wall.org>
 917%
 918There's often more than one correct thing.
 919There's often more than one right thing.
 920There's often more than one obvious thing.
 921             -- Larry Wall in <199806201726.KAA26569@wall.org>
 922%
 923I don't believe I've ever cuddled my elses.
 924             -- Larry Wall in <199806221550.IAA07171@wall.org>
 925%
 926I've always maintained a cordial dislike for indent, because it's usually
 927right.
 928             -- Larry Wall in <199806221558.IAA07251@wall.org>
 929%
 930I'd make people say 'use Fork;' if I thought I could get away with it.
 931             -- Larry Wall in <199806232054.NAA01735@wall.org>
 932%
 933The way I see it, if you declare something portable, you'll always be
 934wrong, and if you declare it non-portable, you'll always be right.  :-)
 935             -- Larry Wall in <199806232215.PAA02356@wall.org>
 936%
 937Perhaps you should compile your Perl with long doubles one of these
 938megaseconds.
 939             -- Larry Wall in <199806241734.KAA09652@wall.org>
 940%
 941But we can both blame it all on Henry.
 942             -- Larry Wall on perl's regex engine
 943%
 944: Why Bible quotes exclusively?  What happened to the Eastern religions?
 945
 946I'm still working on the Unicode mods.
 947             -- Larry Wall in <199807021924.MAA05380@wall.org>
 948%
 949Maybe we should take a clue from FTP and put in an option like "print
 950hash marks on every 1024 iterations".  :-)
 951             -- Larry Wall in <199807171819.LAA13771@wall.org>
 952%
 953And besides, if Perl really takes off in the Windows space, I think the
 954rest of us would just as soon have a double-agent within ActiveState.  :-)
 955             -- Larry Wall in <199807172334.QAA18255@wall.org>
 956%
 957The court finds everyone to be in contempt (including himself :-), and
 958orders everyone sentenced to five years hard labor.  (Working on Perl,
 959of course.)
 960             -- Larry Wall in <199807211548.IAA26184@wall.org>
 961%
 962I note that the Python folks still think they like JPython.  I wonder
 963how long that will last?
 964             -- Larry Wall in <199808050009.RAA22631@wall.org>
 965%
 966I view the JVM as just another architecture that Perl ought to be ported to.
 967(That, and the Underwood typewriter...)
 968             -- Larry Wall in <199808050415.VAA24026@wall.org>
 969%
 970So please don't think I have a "down" on the MVS people.  I'm just pulling
 971off their arms to beat other people over the head with.
 972             -- Larry Wall in <199808050415.VAA24026@wall.org>
 973%
 974It's, uh, pseudo code.  Yeah, that's the ticket...
 975[...]
 976And "unicode" is pseudo code for $encoding.  :-)
 977             -- Larry Wall in <199808071717.KAA12628@wall.org>
 978%
 979: What do people think?
 980What, do people think?  :-)
 981             -- Larry Wall in <199808071736.KAA12738@wall.org>
 982%
 983Well, sure, I explicitly mentioned "vtables" last time I brought this
 984up.  But a single pointer is fairly paltry, as tables go.  :-)
 985             -- Larry Wall in <199808170117.SAA19369@wall.org>
 986%
 987I dunno.  Perhaps you should be happy that I have a policy of refraining
 988from grumbling about handicapped operating systems.  :-)
 989             -- Larry Wall in <199808291719.KAA12244@wall.org>
 990%
 991Perl did not get where it is by ignoring psychological factors.
 992             -- Larry Wall in <199809031634.JAA26895@wall.org>
 993%
 994On the plus side, it's a lot easier in general to find /usr/include than cpp.
 995             -- Larry Wall in <199809041612.JAA05556@wall.org>
 996%
 997Psychotics are consistently inconsistent.  The essence of sanity is
 998to be inconsistently inconsistent.
 999             -- Larry Wall in <199809041918.MAA06850@wall.org>
1000%
1001That which hits the fan tends to get flung in all directions.
1002             -- Larry Wall in <199809091801.LAA15194@wall.org>
1003%
1004If this were Ada, we'd simply doc it as "erroneous".
1005             -- Larry Wall in <199809111734.KAA28296@wall.org>
1006%
1007So I'm thinking about ??, or !!, or //, or \\, or whatever.  But I
1008think I like ?? the best so far.  Or the least worst.
1009             -- Larry Wall in <199809150037.RAA17580@wall.org>
1010%
1011One operator is no big deal.  That can be fixed in a jiffy.
1012             -- Larry Wall in <199809151814.LAA22396@wall.org>
1013%
1014In Clintonese, that would be "You are free to infer that I was saying
1015that."  :-)
1016             -- Larry Wall in <199809222305.QAA17574@wall.org>
1017%
1018Would you trust the linguistic intuitions of someone who has been
1019studying Latin or Greek for three days?
1020             -- Larry Wall in <199809230518.WAA19312@wall.org>
1021%
1022But I know what's important to me, and what isn't.  And I think I know what
1023people can get used to, and what they can even learn to like.  (It just takes
1024some people longer than others. :-)
1025             -- Larry Wall in <199809230518.WAA19312@wall.org>
1026%
1027My arthritic pinkies are already starting to ache just thinking about ||||=.
1028             -- Larry Wall in <199809251659.JAA06689@wall.org>
1029%
1030Orthogonality for orthogonality's sake is not something I'm keen on.
1031             -- Larry Wall in <199809260112.SAA17178@wall.org>
1032%
1033Hmm, doubtful.  The source code generally wasn't there when I needed it.
1034             -- Larry Wall when asked if he learned Perl from the perl source
1035%
1036Must be a different Larry Wall.  There are at least 137 of us in the U.S.
1037             -- Larry Wall in <199809300035.RAA12495@wall.org>
1038%
1039Symmetry is overrated.  Overrated is symmetry.
1040             -- Larry Wall in <6vhq4r$a6i@kiev.wall.org>
1041%
1042That is a known bug in 5.00550.  Either an upgrade or a downgrade will
1043fix it.
1044             -- Larry Wall in <6vu1vo$89c@kiev.wall.org>
1045%
1046That being said, I think we should immediately deprecate any string
1047concatenation that combines "19" with "99".   :-)
1048             -- Larry Wall in <199811242002.MAA26850@wall.org>
1049%
1050The Golden Gate wasn't our fault either, but we still put a bridge across it.
1051             -- Larry Wall in <199811242253.OAA28167@wall.org>
1052%
1053It should be illegal to yell "Y2K" in a crowded economy.  :-)
1054             -- Larry Wall in <199811242326.PAA28495@wall.org>
1055%
1056One thing I do understand is that people get scared when I start
1057thinking out loud.  :-)
1058             -- Larry Wall in <20031212010945.GB29594@wall.org>
1059%
1060: No comment, since this is still hovering (see Larry's reply).
1061
1062Flutter, flutter.
1063             -- Larry Wall in <20031213005325.GE7605@wall.org>
1064%
1065We don't have enough parallel universes to allow all uses of all
1066junction types--in the absence of quantum computing the combinatorics
1067are not in our favor...
1068             -- Larry Wall in <20031213210102.GE18685@wall.org>
1069%
1070Accidental stacks considered harmful.
1071             -- Larry Wall in <20031213202246.GD18685@wall.org>
1072%
1073I try not to confuse roles and traits in my own life.  Being the Perl
1074god is a role.  Being a stubborn cuss is a trait.  :-)
1075             -- Larry Wall in <20031215021442.GA4012@wall.org>
1076%
1077And in the limiting case where the optimizer is completely broken because
1078it's not implemented yet, we get to work around that too.  Optionally...
1079             -- Larry Wall in <20031217195433.GB31020@wall.org>
1080%
1081I think I'm happier with that.  $rubyometer += 0.3 or so.  :-)
1082             -- Larry Wall in <20031219184224.GA19865@wall.org>
1083%
1084Then people who believe only in Interfaces can use the same
1085underlying system-defined Roles without compromising their
1086Java-bedeviled value system.  :-)
1087             -- Larry Wall in <20040217163036.GA30527@wall.org>
1088%
1089Well, some of that relates to the fact that last year I basically
1090had to take half a year off to participate in various non-optional
1091gastric revisions.
1092             -- Larry Wall in <20040226192647.GA11151@wall.org>
1093%
1094Execute!  (I hope that's the right word...)
1095             -- Larry Wall in <20040302065954.GA12495@wall.org>
1096%
1097Yes, I'm a megalomaniac to think that I can set a better standard than
1098the French...  :-)
1099             -- Larry Wall in <20040303205940.GA24064@wall.org>
1100%
1101"Best effort" is one of those phrases that doesn't mean what it means...
1102             -- Larry Wall in <20040316024220.GB3367@wall.org>
1103%
1104I recommend not remaking my mistakes.  Please make different mistakes.  :-)
1105             -- Larry Wall in <20040317192052.GA10645@wall.org>
1106%
1107Biologist: What's worse than being chased by a Velociraptor?
1108Physicist: Obviously, being chased by an Acceloraptor.
1109             -- Larry Wall in A12
1110%
1111Python's syntax succeeds in combining the mistakes of Lisp and Fortran.
1112I do not contrue that as progress.
1113             -- Larry Wall in <20040512161005.GB3902@wall.org>
1114%
1115Backtracking is a wonderful concept till you have to do it.
1116             -- Larry Wall in <20040624192459.GE24759@wall.org>
1117%
1118But let me put this on the record: I specifically disrecommend use of
1119grammar tweaks that will incite lynch mobs.  You have been warned.  :-)
1120             -- Larry Wall in <20040709193138.GA21997@wall.org>
1121%
1122You might as well write your warning in Russian for all the good
1123it'll do.  :-)
1124             -- Larry Wall in <20040710010945.GC32394@wall.org>
1125%
1126: I'm about to learn myself perl6 (after using perl5 for some time).
1127
1128I'm also trying to learn perl6 after using perl5 for some time.  :-)
1129             -- Larry Wall in <20040709202041.GA23451@wall.org>
1130%
1131I suppose that :byte could also take an argument to force a particular
1132old-style (single-byte) locale, if we choose to support them, and are
1133willing to take the consequences of Jarkko going postal.  :-)
1134             -- Larry Wall in <20040712184548.GA19937@wall.org>
1135%
1136One error message that would be of great benefit to novices is if we
1137could guess where the missing brace is based on indentation.  (But not
1138*assuming* the missing brace, of course--this isn't Python...  :-)
1139             -- Larry Wall in <20040714172318.GA21069@wall.org>
1140%
1141Just don't anyone suggest that we indicate what's modified *syntactically*
1142by placing the adverb directly under it...  Yow.  Two-dimensional programs.
1143Reminds me of BF...  Maybe we should just pass this suggestion on to
1144Guido...  :-)      -- Larry Wall in <20040714181005.GB23830@wall.org>
1145%
1146Two-dimensional parsing is fun...
1147             -- Larry Wall in <20040721231814.GA30798@wall.org>
1148%
1149It'd be really nice to find a way to explain continuations to people
1150without inflicting the typical torturous explanations on people who
1151aren't interested in brain pretzels.
1152             -- Larry Wall
1153%
1154People can't see the ferment in my mind. What they see externally has to be
1155filtered through my verbal apparatus, which is actually quite limited. I
1156often think that my verbal processor is a slow interpreter. My wife's verbal
1157processor is a fast compiler.       -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1158%
1159I don't have ADHD. I tend to perseverate and not get distracted when I
1160should get distracted . . . My good friend Tom Christiansen, who does have
1161ADHD, once said jokingly that I have "task-switching deficit" disorder.
1162             -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1163%
1164Anyway, please don't anyone take offense at my free associations. Even
1165if they're true.
1166             -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1167%
1168You know how people are sometimes rude on Usenet or on a mailing list.
1169Sometimes they'll write something that can only be taken as a deadly insult,
1170and then they have the unmitigated gall to put a smiley face on it, as if
1171that makes it all right.      -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1172%
1173Personally, Rorschach blots always look like butterflies to me.  Or
1174pelvis bones, I admit it.
1175             -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1176%
1177Another way to look at it is that screensavers are sort of a poor man's
1178LSD, without the bad trips.
1179             -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1180%
1181I had really weird dreams on morphine [after having a tumor removed].
1182Didn't like those screensavers. But a wonderful poem came to me -- it
1183started out "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree."
1184But I can't remember the rest of it. -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1185%
1186Maybe I'm a little bit crazy, but I can't decide if it's psychotic or
1187neurotic. You know the difference, don't you? A psychotic thinks that
11882 + 2 = 5. A neurotic knows that 2 + 2 = 4, but it makes him nervous.
1189             -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1190%
1191The interesting thing was that while I was watching, they forked. You know,
1192like BSD. One group of cuttlefish went off one way, and the other group went
1193off another. Maybe they had a personality conflict. Maybe they had a fight
1194over licensing. I dunno.       -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1195%
1196Are you going to bother to set up an unspoofable identity for every
1197shirt in your closet?
1198             -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1199%
1200In any event, the real geeks will probably just have the screen
1201tattooed on their chest. Or their stomachs. Teletubbies "R" us.
1202             -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1203%
1204We're a hospital of people helping each other, performing random acts
1205of beauty for each other, even when no one is watching but God.
1206             -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1207%
1208These days I may be missing the bottom of my stomach, but I still have
1209the bottom of my heart. So I would like to thank you from the bottom of
1210my heart for being precisely who you are.
1211             -- Larry Wall, 8th State of the Onion
1212%
1213The problem with a thesaurus is that it only gives you synonyms, not the
1214word you really want.  :-)
1215    -- Larry Wall in <20041204185741.GA16358@wall.org>
1216%
1217It's kinda funny to watch the Parrot folks reinventing a similar scheme.
1218(Er, no pun intended.  Really!)
1219    -- Larry Wall in <20041204193310.GC16358@wall.org>
1220%
1221 ...a Lazy has to be aware of when it is out of values, and when it should
1222call into some meta-Lazy for more iterator values.  And I suppose that
1223meta-Lazy could in turn have a meta-meta-Lazy, which could have a
1224meta-meta-meta-Lazy, and now my brane hurts.   -- Larry Wall
1225%
1226Appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, I'm not trying to break
1227Perl 5 constructs just for the heck of it.
1228    -- Larry Wall in <20041206220054.GA10212@wall.org>
1229%
1230Well, hey, we'll have to leave some of the programming up to you.  :-)
1231    -- Larry Wall in <20050212184643.GA20059@wall.org>
1232%
1233Personally I'm looking forward to seeing what the .mathematica method
1234spits out for a junction, but maybe I'll have to settle for a .apl
1235method instead.
1236    -- Larry Wall in <20050216071655.GC3909@wall.org>
1237%
1238It is my persistent belief (and fond hope) that theory and practice
1239don't always have to pull in opposite directions.
1240    -- Larry Wall in <20050216183411.GA24492@wall.org>
1241%
1242The human psyche is a mishmash of rules of thumb, and Einstein's thumb
1243is only two of them.
1244    -- Larry Wall in <20050217173835.GB26246@wall.org>
1245%
1246My assertion that we can do better with computer languages is a
1247persistent belief and fond hope, but you'll note I don't actually
1248claim to be either rational or right.  Except when it's convenient.  :-)
1249    -- Larry Wall in <20050217173835.GB26246@wall.org>
1250%
1251How long before someone writes $x.ugly('Python'), I wonder...
1252    -- Larry Wall in <20050217181027.GD26246@wall.org>
1253%
1254Bare S-expressions won't work in standard Perl, of course, unless you
1255make "(foo" parse like some kind of reserved word for a known set of
1256"foo".  I'm sure if you did that someone would consider it perverse.
1257    -- Larry Wall in <20050221193216.GE409@wall.org>
1258%
1259The semantics of alcohol don't change when you reach drinking age.
1260Only the pragmatics change.
1261    -- Larry Wall in <20050221191846.GD409@wall.org>
1262%
1263I think so--a pair can always pretend to be a very small hash.
1264    -- Larry Wall in <20050221175223.GA409@wall.org>
1265%
1266 ...sometimes collections of stupid utterances can be rather clever.  If
1267my writings are ever published posthumously, they should probably be
1268called "A Collection of Stupid Utterances", or some such...  :-)
1269    -- Larry Wall in <20050303163144.GA5235@wall.org>
1270%
1271But at some point you just give up and call it cheating, er,
1272I mean, AOP.  :-)
1273    -- Larry Wall in <20050307173849.GA16558@wall.org>
1274%
1275I'm not consistent about consistency, you see, except when I am...
1276And I try to believe six foolish consistencies before breakfast each day. :-)
1277    -- Larry Wall in <20050307164019.GA14585@wall.org>
1278%
1279Uh, yeah.  Obviously, 11 pm is still to early in the day for me...
1280    -- Larry Wall in <20050308071002.GA1069@wall.org>
1281%
1282I have no opinion on its suitability for any particular task.  I'm just
1283the language designer--my job is to shoot you in the foot and make you
1284think you did it to yourself.  :-)
1285    -- Larry Wall in <20050309170804.GA22973@wall.org>
1286%
1287That's...sick...  I love it.  *Please* don't tell Damian.
1288    -- Larry Wall in <20050309180300.GF22973@wall.org>
1289%
1290Sex is fun, but it probably doesn't solve all your problems.
1291    -- Larry Wall in <20050309192903.GA27250@wall.org>
1292%
1293You have the irritating habit of asking good questions I don't have
1294an easy answer for.  Please don't stop.
1295    -- Larry Wall in <20050314165932.GA12577@wall.org>
1296%
1297But maybe we could try to set some slushiness milestones on the road to
1298hell freezing over...
1299    -- Larry Wall in <20050314165932.GA12577@wall.org>
1300%
1301Oh, right--I'd better learn to read Perl 6 one of these days.  :-)
1302    -- Larry Wall in <20050316201700.GB31121@wall.org>
1303%
1304That's what Sleepy Brain says.  But Coffee Brain despises Sleepy Brain.  :-)
1305    -- Larry Wall in <20050317164126.GA28021@wall.org>
1306%
1307fail("Language designer not persuaded");    # :-)
1308    -- Larry Wall in <20050327054109.GC25664@wall.org>
1309%
1310If I thought that I could design a language that will never disappoint
1311anyone, I'd be a lot stupider than I already think I am, I think.
1312    -- Larry Wall in <20050328202308.GA21733@wall.org>
1313%
1314And you can still put in all that cruft if you want to.  You can even
1315force yourself to have to do it.  But to me, it feels a bit like slavery,
1316so I'm still looking for a land flowing with milk and honey, even if
1317there are a few giants in it.  -- Larry Wall
1318%
1319As long as "we" includes "you", that's fine by "me".  :-)
1320    -- Larry Wall in <20050330171201.GA22184@wall.org>
1321%
1322Clear conceptual splits often hide false dichotomies.
1323    -- Larry Wall in <20050330195322.GB22184@wall.org>
1324%
1325Birds naturally prefer early binding to late binding; worms will
1326naturally disagree.  Rolling stones gather no type constraints.
1327    -- Larry Wall in <20050330195322.GB22184@wall.org>
1328%
1329Hmm, where there's a way, there's a will, I guess.
1330    -- Larry Wall in <20050413040733.GA5986@wall.org>
1331%
1332It's not designed to make people happy who want to confuse those
1333issues.  We have macros for that.
1334    -- Larry Wall in <20050419155213.GC19507@wall.org>
1335%
1336Is that enough muddy thinking for one morning?
1337    -- Larry Wall in <20050419155213.GC19507@wall.org>
1338%
1339It seems like a sane thing to me, but that's a rather low standard.
1340    -- Larry Wall in <20050419150023.GA19507@wall.org>
1341%
1342: I hope I never have to design my own language. I would be schizophrenic
1343: before the day ends.
1344That's backwards.  You have to be schizophrenic before the day starts.
1345    -- Larry Wall in <20050419150023.GA19507@wall.org>
1346%
1347Hmm.  What would it mean to goto a class?
1348    -- Larry Wall in <20050420185445.GC766@wall.org>
1349%
1350In any event (no pun intended), I've always wondered how it is you
1351can "kill" a process with a SIGCONT.  As long as we're fixing everything
1352else, maybe we can fix Unix too.  :-)
1353    -- Larry Wall in <20050420171135.GD29671@wall.org>
1354%
1355Or I suppose we could always recontextualize the meaning of "is"
1356instead.  There is prior art...
1357    -- Larry Wall in <20050420192727.GF766@wall.org>
1358%
1359Dude, nowadays we're trying to make Perl 6 more Unicode aware, not
1360less; /usr/share/dict/words is so, like, monocultural, and stuff.
1361    -- Larry Wall in <20050420194147.GH766@wall.org>
1362%
1363Anything is *possible* in PUGS.  :-)
1364    -- Larry Wall in <20050420205201.GD3971@wall.org>
1365%
1366sub eval_C ($proggie) { CGrammar.top($proggie).compile.link.run.dump.gdb }
1367    -- Larry Wall in <20050420220706.GA6265@wall.org>
1368%
1369It might do what you mean.  Personally, I would never mean that if I
1370could help it.  :-)
1371    -- Larry Wall in <20050421225012.GA12790@wall.org>
1372%
1373But I'm sure some will argue that's too subtle.  (Hi, @Larry<Damian>.)
1374    -- Larry Wall in <20050423013102.GA21941@wall.org>
1375%
1376We're still discussing it on @Larry, but I think we can make that work.
1377    -- Larry Wall in <20050503004247.GA7342@wall.org>
1378%
1379Yes, it's a slippery slope.  No, we are not sliding all the way down
1380it.  And it's just as easy to slide up this slope as well as down, and
1381end up with Lisp rather than APL.  Neither extreme is healthy.
1382    -- Larry Wall in <20050504165510.GB7407@wall.org>
1383%
1384Almost nothing in the design of Perl 6 is there for a single purpose.
1385    -- Larry Wall in <20050504165510.GB7407@wall.org>
1386%
1387I think a p6explain would be a rather popular program.
1388    -- Larry Wall in <20050505050259.GA25468@wall.org>
1389%
1390Every day it gets a little harder to distinguish my senility from
1391my insanity...
1392    -- Larry Wall in <20050507200008.GC27695@wall.org>
1393%
1394The compiler is not immutable; it is a means to an end.
1395And the end I am imagining is one that I cannot imagine.
1396    -- Larry Wall in <20050514164301.GA13727@wall.org>
1397%
1398There's more than one method to our madness.
1399    -- Larry Wall in <20050614192549.GB17779@wall.org>
1400%
1401The stupid people are the ones proposing to outlaw stupidity.  :-)
1402    -- Larry Wall in <20050708031759.GB3727@wall.org>
1403%
1404Of course, if we make the MMD rules sufficiently complicated, we'll just have
1405to make the warning spit out a spreadsheet to show the calculations.  Then we
1406hide all that behind an interview process, just like all our wonderful tax
1407preparation software...  -- Larry Wall in <20050708185704.GA12164@wall.org>
1408%
1409My suggestion would be to assume that the Apocalypses are primarily
1410intended to be entertaining rather than factual. :-)
1411    -- Larry Wall in <20050809221810.GA31369@wall.org>
1412%
1413Wheelbarrow is a scavenger. That is to say, he's a sysadmin.
1414    -- Larry Wall in The State of the Onion 9
1415%