Dave Storrs writes:
> 1) One of the great strengths of Perl is that its learning curve
> is very shallow but very long. Adding more stuff to the language makes
> the curve steeper, because you need to hold more in your head as you learn
> it.
I see those as orthogonal. I can add more to the high end of a
language that beginners don't need to know.
> 2) If the language is so big that you can't hold all of its
> features in your head, then those extra features might as well not
> exist.
I disagree. I don't hold all of perl5 in my head. Formats? They're
rough templates for output. Exactly how to use them, no idea. How to
use File::Find? I always read the manpage. 85% of Damian's Weird OO
Stuff? Never used it, probably never will. How to write a source
filter? I'll read the manpage.
Does this mean that those features might not exist? Hell no! I like
the things people have done with source filters, OO modules, and so
on. Would I take those features away? Not on your nelly.
Everyone has their own subset of Perl. I think there are probably
fewer than ten people who know everything about the perl5 language,
and yet we still like it. I think keeping the learning curve
manageable is the big thing--the curve can be as long as we like, so
long as it's not too steep.
Thanks for taking the time to clearly articulate your fears. It's
nice to finally have something concrete to address.
Nat
