I sent a correction to Newton's Telecom Dictionary for their definition of Perl and Mr. Newton should get some kudos for being *incredibly* speedy in his response. Does anyone have any further comments or corrections to add to the definition while he is willing to make changes? e. --- Forwarded message from Harry Newton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *>From: "Harry Newton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *>To: "Elaine -HFB- Ashton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *>Subject: RE: PERL [sic] correction *>Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 23:28:08 -0400 *> *>How would you fix my definition, which now reads as follows: *> *>Perl *>Practical Extraction and Report Language. An interpreted scripting *>programming language, first released in 1987 by Larry Wall to streamline *>the administration of a network of Sun and DEC VAX computers. Perl is a *>highly portable language widely used in writing CGI (Common Gateway *>Interface) scripts, which are the standard means of performing actions -- *>like searching or running applications when the user clicks on certain *>buttons or on parts of Web screen pages. The form Perl is preferred for the *>language itself; perl is used for the interpreter for the Perl language. *>See CGI. *> *>Harry Newton *>Editor-in-Chief *>Technology Investor Magazine *>270 Madison Avenue, Suite 1300 *>New York, NY 10016 *>212-417-9000 Fax 209-797-9540 *>Cell phone 917-945-2746 *>Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *>Web site: www.TechnologyInvestor.com *> *>-----Original Message----- *>From: Elaine -HFB- Ashton [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] *>Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2000 11:04 PM *>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] *>Subject: PERL [sic] correction *> *>In your 16th edition of Newton's Telecom Dictionary your entry for the *>Perl programming language has quite a few errors which should be corrected *>either for the next printing or for the next edition. *> *>PERL is incorrect, it should be Perl. *> *>It was first released in 1987 not 1986 by Larry Wall, not Larry Walls. *> *>scree. should be screen. *> *>The OED entry will look something like this in the upcoming 3rd ed. *> *> *>Perl, perl, irreg. PERL *>Computing. *>perl n. , *>arbitrarily chosen for its positive connotations, with omission of *>-a- to differentiate it from an existing programming language called *>Pearl. Coined by Larry Wall in the summer of 1987; the program was *>publicly released on 18 December of that year. Acronymic expansions of *>the name (such as Practical Extraction and Report Language and *>Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister), though found in the earliest *>documention for the language, were formed after the name had been *>chosen. Coinage details confirmed by personal communication from L. *>Wall, May 2000. A high-level interpreted programming language widely *>used for a variety of tasks and especially for applications running *>on the World Wide Web. The form Perl is preferred for the language *>itself; perl is used for the interpreter for the Perl language. *> *>and the Jargon file *> *>Perl /perl/ n. [Practical Extraction and Report Language, a.k.a. *>Pathologically Eclectic Rubbish Lister] An interpreted language developed *>by Larry Wall (<>, author of `patch(1)' and `rn(1)') and distributed over *>Usenet. Superficially resembles awk, but is much hairier, including many *>facilities reminiscent of `sed(1)' and shells and a comprehensive Unix *>system-call interface. Unix sysadmins, who are almost always incorrigible *>hackers, generally consider it one of the languages of choice, and it is *>by far the most widely used tool for making `live' web pages via CGI. Perl *>has been described, in a parody of a famous remark about `lex(1)', as the *>"Swiss-Army chainsaw" of Unix programming. Though Perl is very useful, it *>would be a stretch to describe it as pretty or elegant; people who like *>clean, spare design generally prefer Python. See also Camel Book, *>TMTOWTDI. *> *>You might also see http://history.perl.org/ for further info. *> *>I appreciate your attention to this matter. *> *>e.
