Simon Cozens wrote:
This isn't name-calling; this is a plea for Perl 6 not to become a language> designed by a committee of ignorant amateurs.
Fortunately there is absolutely no chance of that.
Perl 6 is a language being designed by exactly one person.
And he's neither ignorant, nor an amateur.
The rest of us are merely offering suggestions, feedback, and advice.
It's important to remember that Larry loves Perl more than any of us, and that he's not about to be seduced into butchering it by the wild suggestions of so-called "ignorant amateurs". Though, of course, he would never *dream* of using that term himself (except perhaps as a profound compliment).
On the other hand, I know that Larry cherishes all the "ignorant amateur" suggestions he receives. Because they help him explore the design space. Because they spark counter-ideas. And because they so often encode -- albeit sometimes very cyptically -- truly guileless expressions of real problems that real Perl users experience. Larry is well-known for extracting the nutritional value from these encodings (i.e. the underlying needs and desires they highlight) without swallowing the unpalatable packaging they sometimes come in.
It's instructive to review the PSA ratings of the RFCs covered by the first six Apocalypses and consider the fact that Larry almost always rates the problem space addressed by an individual RFC much higher than the solution it proposes. And *then* typically goes on to describe an alternate approach that solves the problem better and far more generally.
Personally, I think we're in safe hands.
Damian
