Why use Python when we've got Perl?

[Michael Rubenstein]

On 14 Aug 1999 21:31:46 -0700, Tom Christiansen
<tchrist at mox.perl.com> wrote:

>Think back to the 80s and early 90s.  The change, if it really happened,
>came with the upty-gazillion CGI script kiddies who couldn't program
>2+2, yet who wanted *us* to write *them* these persistent, encrypted,
>crossplatform, multiscreen shopping carts for e-commerce, complete with
>dynamically-generated animated vanity counters, each and every time 
>they stepped up to the feeder.
>
>As a result, There's not much left of a spirit of a programming community
>of mutual benefit when it becomes numerically dominated by people who
>don't want to study or to work or EVEN TO PROGRAM, and who all seem to
>think you owe them something.

Anyone in comp.lang.python who is starting to feel sorry for the
beleaguered perl experts should read comp.lang.perl.misc.

Don't miss the thread (checking Perl offline) in which Tom goes
after one of these "CGI script kiddies" who has the audacity to
use the word "off-line" to mean not on the network and "upload"
to mean copy to the server (both usages are correct according to
the OED).

Make sure you check out the spelling and grammar from the
regulars.  Many of them are fond of insulting beginners for not
reading news.announce.newusers but feel free to ignore what the
announcements say about spelling and grammar flames.  Make sure
you check out the thread (Nastiness contrary to the spirit of
perl?) in which one of the regulars feels it necessary to attack
someone for using the word "ditto" to mean "I agree" (a
reasonable use of the word according to the OED).

Nor should you miss the current thread in which a number of
regulars register their reaction to Tom's harrassing someone with
email (HARASSMENT -- Monthly Autoemail) because Tom doesn't
approve of his method of quoting.

The problem in comp.lang.perl.misc is not the beginners -- it is
the regulars.