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2001年04月09日

Why Perl?

I yearn for a sense of common purpose, with Open Source and Perl hackers, beyond competing for the next job. We as hackers are in the happy position of using and building those tools that further sharing ideas. I'm optimistic that the 21st century can be a blissful time of shared conviction.

Why Perl?

Perl is not just a way of telling the computer what you mean, it is also the basis of a thriving culture. The Perl Mongers are one of the most important aspects of this culture. They have chapters throughout the world, with new ones being built all the time. Meetings, mailing lists, IRC channels and grassroots conferences produce an energy and exchange of ideas. This is helped by flat structures; even the most brilliant minds within the Perl community are just regular guys you don't have to be afraid to talk to.

Certainly one reason for this thriving culture is that fun can be had with Perl, since the language is expressive and flexible enough to allow you to write code the way you want, be it obfuscated or poetic (the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive), as a one-liner or as beautifully structured object systems. There's more than one way to do it.

Perl also allows you to do crazy things in easy and powerful ways. Quantum-superpositioned variables that can be in several states at the same time, or variables whose value expires after some time; writing code in Latin or data structures that flexibly bend and morph into any shape you want, are but a few things possible in this rather natural computer language - no contradiction in terms implied.

Elaborate code repositories, automated testing facilities, recorded history; and now, the first development grant sponsored by a community. Within two weeks of making public the idea of sponsoring Damian Conway for a year to exclusively work on Perl, the notion had become a reality. Perl generates quite a bit of money, and good programmers are sought-after, well-paid and tend to be generous and helpful - as it has turned out, not only with advice. If this concept works, it could spawn a wave of communities self-sufficiently honoring brilliant minds. It is in this environment that a sharing of ideas and common purpose is fostered and achieved.

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posted at: 18:29 | path: /misc | permalink | 0 comments | 0 trackbacks

Open Source and Artistic Movements

It's easy to make plans when you're on holiday or have some spare time, but once you're back home the day-to-day chores will quickly catch up with you. Nevertheless, I think I've learned something in the past year. Those two months in the summer of 2000 that I've taken as more or less a sabbatical have shown just how far you can get and how much fun it can be when you don't have to go to a regular nine-to-five job. And experiences in London, meeting the open-source community, namely in the form of the London Perl mongers and taking part in the London Perl conference, have shown me that, unless you're part of some culture you can relate to, the life of a hacker can be a solitary one. However, when you're engaged in open-source activities, you can immerse yourself in this hacker culture, and it feels good and gives you energy.

There are some concepts which may appear initially unrelated to computer programming, but are compatible with that mindset. The idea of living a bohemian lifestyle, of exploring the artist within yourself (and hacking certainly can be an art form), the comparison with the French painter or poet around the fin-de-siecle who takes part in new artistic movements, maybe even political discussions with other artists in some Parisian cafe, drinking Absinthe (the poet's third eye), is very appealing. In his talk at the yapc::Europe 19100, Simon Cozens related the open-source hacker to such artists. But how do you achieve such a state of the free spirit?

The principal downside of programming for fun is the lack of income. Only rarely can one find a job, temporary or permanent, that allows oneself to indulge in open-source projects. My rather temporary solution for this has been a three-month visit to London, in a rather well-paid project. London is expensive, Vienna is not, so the idea was to earn money in London and spend it in Vienna. Back in Vienna, I'll try to find similar set-ups; well-paid, short-term commercial projects followed by periods of practising your own hackerly art. Unfortunately, income taxation in Austria is very high, so it would pay off a lot more working in London, but then again that's not home.

There are, of course, other ways to make a living. Having taught a few small Perl-classes, I found that to be challenging and fun at the same time. So I might offer some open Perl training with the Vienna.pm and Linux user group folks, hoping to build up experience and a reputation, so I can then offer these services to companies. Speaking of the Vienna Perl mongers, they seem to be lazy beyond virtue when it comes to organizing meetings and other activities, so I'd like to encourage socal contact between those hackers.

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posted at: 14:28 | path: /misc | permalink | 0 comments | 0 trackbacks