You've probably all seen this already, but did you notice that LOTR is listed as offline documentation section (in the preface) of the Programming Perl 3rd edition? i got a kick out of that :)
LOL!
Come to think of it, I can see a connection - Larry Wall's a linguist by training, and Tolkien is a widely known master of that field.
Another similarity is that both Perl and LotR can be approached at a basic, novice level, and something can be gained from both at that level. You don't have to understand Perl at the guru level in order to get real work done with it; neither do you have to have any great knowledge of linguistics or mythic storytelling to enjoy reading LotR.
I first learned Perl about ten years ago - I first read LotR over twenty years ago. And yet, I still find myself learning new things about both. The quality that they both share - that of being accessible to novices, and yet have depths that one can spend a lifetime exploring - is something I find fascinating.
sherm--
Thus spake the master programmer:
"When the program is being tested, it is too late to make design changes."
-- The Tao of Programming
