On Mon, 2005-02-28 at 11:16 -0500, Adam Turoff wrote: > The number of Perl job openings today, during the boom, or during the > bust is largely irrelevant. Java was supposed to be the programming > languages to end all programming languages. It wasn't then, and it > isn't now. Interestingly, the whole Java community seems to be slowly > awaking from it's overcomplexification of programming, and developing > lightweight systems (the kind of stuff that's natural to write with Perl).
And Perl certainly is also not the end all and be all of programming languages. > Over time, we've seen legacy systems ditched for Perl reimplementations, > and Perl systems ditched for PHP, Java, C#, C, and other > reimplementations. It's all cyclical. If Perl makes it easy to solve > problems, it'll win. If not, it deserves a lesser status. Same as any > other technology from Assembly Language to Z-machines. This is also a gross over-simplification, and quite naive IMHO. Although it a great geek ideal that the best tech will always win in the end, it just isn't so. Sure, it makes a difference, but my observation is that that just isn't the only factor. Maybe not even the biggest. Most of the arguments I'm seeing against certification seem to me to smack of elitism. PHB's unfortunately don't usually make decisions primarily on real technical merit. They only know oversimplified catch phrases about languages, and make many decisions based on the cover-my-ass principle of middle management. I've had a number of my own battles with this type of manager, who would choose to hire two Java programmers and spend six months developing a web site for loading and accessing some basic data that could have been done by just one Perl programmer, probably in a month or two less. They made that decision because it was safer, because they had a head full of negative myth's about Perl. THAT is why some of us are considering certification. Not because it will make Perl better, or guarantee good programmers, but because it will give PHB's something to hold on to. "Look Perl has matured, it has coding standards now, there is a certification program". Maybe you care most if that's all bullshit. I certainly wouldn't blame you or say that it's not. I wish we lived in that ideal world where the best tech always wins on pure merit alone. But we don't. I'm not interested in going out and shouting from rooftops how cool Perl is. It would likely hurt more than help. I am interested in discussing ways we can increase exposure in a way that does not alienate the market, ways to increase the acceptability of Perl as a possible solution the those decision makers who don't really know squat about Perl. If you have other suggestions on how we might do that, I'd love to hear them. -- Sean Quinlan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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