On Wed, Oct 26, 2005 at 09:36:48AM +0200, Michele Dondi wrote: : On Tue, 25 Oct 2005, Larry Wall wrote: : : >But we're trying to design the OO features (indeed, all of Perl 6) : >such that you can usefully cargo cult those aspects that are of : >immediate interest without being forced to learn the whole thing. : >It's not the number one design goal, but it's right up there. : : So you're talking about a "positive", tame form of cargo cult, giving the : latter a good name...
Yes, I hack on more languages than just Perl. :-) I use the term "cargo cult" for lack of a better term, and when I do so I tend to use it as a verb rather than a noun. By "cargo culting" I mean the process by which most of us learn to use new technology. We appropriate inappropriately; we have to start using a thing wrongly before we can start using it rightly. When we're very young, we learn by picking up objects and stuffing them into our mouths. That's not the appropriate way for an adult to treat most objects, but it's the right way for a toddler to treat an object, and it's the parents' responsibility to "child-proof" the room so the child doesn't chew on power cords and such. So another way to say what I said is that we're trying to make Perl 6 relatively safe for people who are just starting to use bits of it inappropriately in order to learn it. The term "cargo cult" also has some religious connotations, and to a small extent I mean those too. The "religious" wars fought in computer communities often arise among those with the least understanding of the deep issues. People much more easily fall into tribal behavior than into philosophical behavior. A deep understanding of bikesheds is that they're meant to hold bicycles, and it doesn't really matter what color they are. But when you first discover a bikeshed, you might mistake it for a tribal monument of some sort. It's obviously more important than the bicycle; after all, it's bigger. And we might attract more new husbands or wives from other tribes if we paint it attractively. So we spend a lot of time painting the outside while the bicycle is inside rusting. And the bicycle is what's important, because we should be reaching out to other tribes, not waiting for them to come to us. Well, hey, my metaphor is probably painted the wrong color. But maybe it's only by using analogies inappropriately that we can begin to understand how to use them appropriately. Larry
