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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Todd Lehman writes:
> I'm already grossed out
> enough that there are a couple ports of perl to MS platforms. IMHO, Perl
> belongs in Unix (and offshots like OSX) and Microshaft OS's should die
> horrible deaths.
I take it you have little respect for people who develop on MS platforms
for a living...? I'm not sure I should be offended.
It can also be argued that Perl on a Mac is equally evil: the OS doesn't
even offer a shell, and its file system is incredibly -- no, radically --
different from that of UNIX. Thus, should Macs die a horrible death also?
I think not. Macs bring in their own set of benefits over UNIX -- as does
Windows. If it weren't for both of these platforms, the computing world
would still be dominated by UNIX mainframes reached mainly via dumb
terminals. GUI would not have had such a success. The rapid growth of
the Internet would have never happened. All of these things have,
arguably, had a positive effect on society.
And let's not forget LDraw -- written for a MS platform. This one app has
done much to bring together many Internet Legomaniacs.
> The Perl advocates are funny folks -- they all hate MS
> (basically) but they're happy seeing Perl ported to MS platforms because they
> see it as good for Perl. And maybe it is good for Perl.
It's very very very good for Perl. Cross-platform is a *good* thing. For
open source, about the best thing you can ever do is widen your audience
while maintaining control over source code check-in.
> The problem is that
> it's also good for MS. I don't know if the Perl advocates realize how bad • this
> is for Perl in the long run, even if it's good in the short run. Of course,
> it's perfectly within the license of Perl to port it, but it's really been • sad
> to see it start getting gunked up with OS checks and things. I'll really • vomit
> if I ever see a standard-distribution module accepting a backslash as a
> directory character, even via some option. Why it hasn't completely split • into
> two camps yet is beyond me.
Something running on MS == bad? I can't see it that way. I've paid for a
bare minimum of MS software -- mainly the NT OS and Office for
semi-obvious reasons -- and I haven't given $K's to MS for development
tools which I can get for much lower costs from another vendor.
It did split into two camps, around 5.004x, and was brought back together
into one camp for 5.005x. This has had a benefit of initiating a project
to bring Macintosh (and other OS) compatability into the product as well.
As for Win32 ports being bad for Perl in the long run, I don't see how
that can be. That argument sound like, "playing with http would be bad
because it will spell the demise of gopher; and don't ever visit
akebono.stanford.edu , 'cause archie is here to stay."
Sorry, but things change, man. They change because something muddied the
waters, and eventually, it's even a Good Thing.
> > A recent graduate on minimum pass grades can put together a basic multi-
> > user address/phone/contacts type database in about a week using Forte,
> > and it will accommodate 100's of users on a variety of hardware platforms
> > and millions of records.
> But that project will not work correctly if the programmer doesn't know
> what he/she is doing. A week of work from a bad programmer is worse than
> nothing, IMHO. (I mean really bad programmers, that is. I've worked with
> at least 6 in the past 10 years.)
(To interject into an unrelated debate living in the same thread)
That really bad programmer either learns the art of suck-up, or loses his
or her job. The latter case is okay, but if the first case is a
co-worker, and his boss accepts it, then you're probably in a go-nowhere
job anyway unless you start mastering the art of suck-up as well.
I don't tolerate suck-ups. I've been fortunate, however, that the
majority of my bosses don't either, so this may have skewed my view of
things.
<REMARK type="SNIDE" type="FLIPPANT">
How does this attitude work in Todd's Programmer Caste System?
</REMARK>
Cheers,
- jsproat
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Perl rules!
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| (...) No, not at all! First, I support someone's choice of platform they have chosen to develop for. Second, I understand that MS platforms are the chief money makers in the microcomputer software industry, and that there's a lot to be said for (...) (25 years ago, 17-Jul-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Perl rules!
|
| (...) (heh heh) I think I'm more grossed-out than amused. I'm already grossed out enough that there are a couple ports of perl to MS platforms. IMHO, Perl belongs in Unix (and offshots like OSX) and Microshaft OS's should die horrible deaths. The (...) (25 years ago, 17-Jul-99, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, lugnet.off-topic.geek)
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