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notes from larry wall's postmodern speech on the post-modernity of perl
http://www.wall.org/~larry/pm.html (thanks kube from sophists.org) these are all quotes:
This would bother a Modernist, because a Modernist has to decide whether this is true OR that is true. The Modernist believes in OR more than AND. Postmodernists believe in AND more than OR. In the very postmodern Stephen Sondheim musical, _Into the Woods_, one of the heroines laments, ``Is it always or, and never and?'' Of course, at the time, she was trying to rationalize an adulterous relationship, so perhaps we'd better drop that example. Well, hey. At least we can use Perl as an example. In Perl, AND has higher precedence than OR does. There you have it. That proves Perl is a postmodern language.
``Beauty is skin deep, but ugly goes right to the bone.''
If that's the case, I pity the person who's only skin and bones.
In fact, at many different levels, Modernism brought us various kinds of dysfunction. Every cultural institution took a beating. Government took a beating. Schools took a beating. Certainly the family took a beating. Everyone took a beating, because Modernism was about attacking problems. Modernism was the hammer. (I'd like to make a pun on hammer and sickle here, but I'm not sure what it would be. Certainly Russia was more hammered than we were by Modernism, in the cloak of Marxism. I know what it means to be hammered, but I'm still trying to figure out what it would mean to be more sickled. Hmm. Unless that's talking about the Grim Reaper. Russia has a lot of experience with that too.) Anyway, back to our talk. Modernism oversimplifies. Modernism puts the focus squarely on the hammer and the nail.
How is duct tape like the Force? It has a light side, and a dark side, and it holds the universe together
Fortunately, I am not Perl. Perl was my servant before it was anyone else's, so I taught Perl to be a better servant than I could ever teach myself to be. Perl is like the perfect butler. Whatever you ask Perl to do, it says ``Very good, sir,'' or ``Very good, madam.'' Only occasionally does Perl give you a stiff upper lip, or say ``Tsk, tsk.'' But if you ask Perl its opinion, it will advise you on matters of taste. ``I'm sorry sir, but bareword 'foo' is not allowed while 'strict subs' is in use.''
Contrast that with the Modern idea of how a computer should behave. It's really rather patronizing: ``I'm sorry Dave. I can't allow you to do that.''
The trouble with having a submissive servant is that it puts the burden back on you to make the decisions. Come to think of it, that's the problem with having a submissive wife too. My wife is very submissive. She's always saying, ``I submit this problem to you because I don't want to decide it.'' Ah, well.
This would bother a Modernist, because a Modernist has to decide whether this is true OR that is true. The Modernist believes in OR more than AND. Postmodernists believe in AND more than OR. In the very postmodern Stephen Sondheim musical, _Into the Woods_, one of the heroines laments, ``Is it always or, and never and?'' Of course, at the time, she was trying to rationalize an adulterous relationship, so perhaps we'd better drop that example. Well, hey. At least we can use Perl as an example. In Perl, AND has higher precedence than OR does. There you have it. That proves Perl is a postmodern language.
``Beauty is skin deep, but ugly goes right to the bone.''
If that's the case, I pity the person who's only skin and bones.
In fact, at many different levels, Modernism brought us various kinds of dysfunction. Every cultural institution took a beating. Government took a beating. Schools took a beating. Certainly the family took a beating. Everyone took a beating, because Modernism was about attacking problems. Modernism was the hammer. (I'd like to make a pun on hammer and sickle here, but I'm not sure what it would be. Certainly Russia was more hammered than we were by Modernism, in the cloak of Marxism. I know what it means to be hammered, but I'm still trying to figure out what it would mean to be more sickled. Hmm. Unless that's talking about the Grim Reaper. Russia has a lot of experience with that too.) Anyway, back to our talk. Modernism oversimplifies. Modernism puts the focus squarely on the hammer and the nail.
How is duct tape like the Force? It has a light side, and a dark side, and it holds the universe together
Fortunately, I am not Perl. Perl was my servant before it was anyone else's, so I taught Perl to be a better servant than I could ever teach myself to be. Perl is like the perfect butler. Whatever you ask Perl to do, it says ``Very good, sir,'' or ``Very good, madam.'' Only occasionally does Perl give you a stiff upper lip, or say ``Tsk, tsk.'' But if you ask Perl its opinion, it will advise you on matters of taste. ``I'm sorry sir, but bareword 'foo' is not allowed while 'strict subs' is in use.''
Contrast that with the Modern idea of how a computer should behave. It's really rather patronizing: ``I'm sorry Dave. I can't allow you to do that.''
The trouble with having a submissive servant is that it puts the burden back on you to make the decisions. Come to think of it, that's the problem with having a submissive wife too. My wife is very submissive. She's always saying, ``I submit this problem to you because I don't want to decide it.'' Ah, well.
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