Mission Critical Perl

[John-Michael Keyes]

Awright, I'm gonna float this one, even if it == $off_topic++;

And I float to this group first, because I'm writing mostly ActiveState-deployed Perl on a pilfered Mac running Jag.2.2 and a vanilla Perl install in an MSUBERALL shop. (And BBEdit is still the envy, and bane, of my Windows brethren: "Regex this... studio-boy!") Yes, my days are weird, but entertaining.

So the reality that I live with is:
a. Perl is the "Language of Last Resort" culturally in the organization.
b. Despite the fact that Perl is running mission-critical in EVERY aspect of our business.
c. And because of (a.) MANAGEMENT doesn't know how much (b.) is going on.
d. if this $ENV is atypical, let me know ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), and stop reading, but if this resonates, maybe a Barnumesque maneuver is mandated...

Because, I think there is a growing perception "out there" that is depreciating the value of Perl, and we need to counterfud/act it (I'm still not sure which) now or soon.

My notion is that collectively, we add some vocabulary to the gestalt of development... Maybe we call it Mission Critical Perl. You know, it's not com, it's dotnet (I mean .NET). So, it's not Perl it's .MCP.

What is Mission Critical Perl?
It's code that gets the job done.
It's strongly commented, both in architecture and execution. (Yeah, I know. Perl is self commenting. Comment more anyway dammmit.)
It logs actions. (No matter how trivial, without metrics - it ain't important. This is essential, if EVERY script you've written isn't logging, write a .pm, go back and include it. We can't show 'em how much we're doing with Perl unless we have a bar graph.)
It's code reviewed.
It's heralded: Mission Critical Perl. Maybe even .MCP

..MCP When what you need is: RAD, Reliable, Reporting and Robust.

So there's my teaser. If I'm alone, cool. I've been meaning to polish the bytes on my resume. But if you're in the same scenario, let's start a movement.

JMK

PS. Tim O., Think about "A Manager's Guide to Leveraging Corporate Perl Assets," the Killer Whale Book.