Live data from Hacker News

93% of Paint Splatters Are Valid Perl Programs (2019)

mcmillen.dev

71–80 of 170 posts

Re: 93% of Paint Splatters Are Valid Perl Programs (2019)

#71

That's a fun read. I once wrote an entire CMS in Perl. I still wake up, screaming, sometimes. [UPDATE] It appears as if my flippant remark caused upset. I am sincerely sorry that this was the case. No offense was meant. @peteretep, you have my sincere apology. It was a flippant remark. At the time I wrote it (mid-1990s), Perl was the best way to write portable server-side code. I took the time to learn it, and got fa…

I once wrote a vital satellite maneuver orchestration software, which had to parse various files and call models. Simultaneously the scariest and proudest moment in my career, but the alternative was Fortran or C.

Why didn't you write it in C?

Re: 93% of Paint Splatters Are Valid Perl Programs (2019)

#72
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't take attacks on a tool you like as an attack on you. This is rarely ever the intention, and I'm 100% certain wasn't the intention of the poster here. The tools you use shouldn't be your identity. Chill.

One person’s tool is another person’s livelihood, the corner stone of their professional experience, and the basis by which other people will (apparently) judge their technical expertise

The comment that upset you made a joke about their code and the tools from the late 90s. It seems you took it as a personal insult as if they were directly talking to you or about your code. It is a really odd thing over which you to get defensive. I have no horse in this race and I would never judge anyone’s expertise solely on the tools they use (given that it might not even be their choice). But between the two of you one made a very dry joke and the other got defensive for no reason when the conversation wasn’t about them.

The tools we use don’t define us. If you feel they do, please reevaluate. Perl (C, k8s, PHP, Python 2.x) are just tools. It’s like defining your identity by the brand of hammer you use.

Re: 93% of Paint Splatters Are Valid Perl Programs (2019)

#73
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't take attacks on a tool you like as an attack on you. This is rarely ever the intention, and I'm 100% certain wasn't the intention of the poster here. The tools you use shouldn't be your identity. Chill.

One person’s tool is another person’s livelihood, the corner stone of their professional experience, and the basis by which other people will (apparently) judge their technical expertise

It’s important to diversify.

Re: 93% of Paint Splatters Are Valid Perl Programs (2019)

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. I feel your pain. I write software for Apple systems. It’s modern, high-quality code, but it’s for Apple. There are people that have never met me, and have never had any prior interactions with me, that hate (and that’s not hyperbole) me; simply because of that one fact. I’m constantly reading stuff about Apple, and people that use/like/support/develop for Apple, that is intentionally insulting and demeaning…

Chris, we’re good. As others have pointed out, sometimes an edgy joke gets an edgy response.

This is what is considered edgy nowadays?

Re: 93% of Paint Splatters Are Valid Perl Programs (2019)

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sorry the code you produced made you so unhappy EDIT: verb tense changed

Why do people post nasty things like this?

Why does it feel like HN has become so incredibly sensitive? I have been reading comments here a while (13 years I think), and noticed that in the past couple of years is when critical of any piece of software, no matter how warranted or how tongue in cheek, results in comments like this. How would you have phrased the original sentiment that you wouldn’t think was nasty?

Re: 93% of Paint Splatters Are Valid Perl Programs (2019)

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people post nasty things like this?

Why does it feel like HN has become so incredibly sensitive? I have been reading comments here a while (13 years I think), and noticed that in the past couple of years is when critical of any piece of software, no matter how warranted or how tongue in cheek, results in comments like this. How would you have phrased the original sentiment that you wouldn’t think was nasty?

Like someone else said, 'don't take attacks on a tool you like as an attack on you.' I think theirs is the overly-sensitive reply. Why get worked up because someone doesn't like software that you do like? Bizarre.

Re: 93% of Paint Splatters Are Valid Perl Programs (2019)

#77

Can we talk about the original tweet some? How DO we let kids be kids in this age where all the other kids wanna do is be on YouTube and TikTok?

I’ve only been a parent for five years so do with this what you will.

For us, it started at me - I had to make some big changes. When she was very little, I caught myself pushing her on a swing with my nose in my phone. Once I caught myself doing that, I broke the habit - now when we’re spending quality time together, my phone doesn’t exist.

This gives us space to do things outside, go on adventures and use our imaginations.

Devices are a huge part of her world so at other times, we either share one device and I let her quarterback or we spend an hour in bed on our own devices. I’m open about what I do on my device and she’s open about what she does on hers. In some cases, this creates an opportunity for me to teach and model. In other cases, it gives her an opportunity to teach me.

The last part has been especially important. As my girl has taught me things about her world, I’ve learned that some of my ideas about kids being kids are based on my own prejudice. I’ve caught myself expressing an overly rosy view of ‘when I was a kid’ and have tried to project that world upon her. Thankfully, my kid and I have the kind of relationship where she’s more than comfortable to tell me that I’m wrong.

Re: 93% of Paint Splatters Are Valid Perl Programs (2019)

#78
Recently I had to do some simple flat file parsing and aggregation - for some reason, I picked up Perl for a it and it was as easy and performant as ever. It just felt natural and got the job done in a few lines of code. For all the hate Perl gets, I think for specific tasks like these, it is pretty much only rivalled by Python (and compared to Perl even with strict on/avoiding magic variables etc, Python still feels verbose).

Re: 93% of Paint Splatters Are Valid Perl Programs (2019)

#79
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once wrote a vital satellite maneuver orchestration software, which had to parse various files and call models. Simultaneously the scariest and proudest moment in my career, but the alternative was Fortran or C.

Why didn't you write it in C?

All the usual reasons, such as cpan, terseness, interpreted nature, quick turnaround, etc
Post reply on HN