Recommendation
Excellent. (5 owls of 5) Read this article if you are interested in Perl culture. Read this article if you are puzzled by Perl and/or Perl culture. Or more simply and modernistically, read this article.
Let me try again. 'Tsall good. Larry rules. The article rocks.
Where to Find the Article
Read this article, OK?
Note:
- This thing that I'm calling an article is written like a transcription of a talk. And maybe it is a talk. It sure has the flow of a talk.
- But I refer to it as an article partly because that is less cumbersome than "transcription of a talk" or whatever.
Important Quotes
- "'Tsall good."
- "This rules."
- "That sucks."
Some Meanings of pm
- prime minister
- post meridian
- postmodern
- Perl module
- Perl Monger
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Contents
Foreword
What? A foreword to a review? And by the author? Weird!
This review may seem peculiar to you. That may be because it is peculiar. But perhaps it will get you to read the article in question or to know that you don't want want to read it. Or perhaps it will just encourage you to consider a different point of view. Anyway it's kind of fun to write.
If, at any time, you determine that you wish to read the article, you might want to consider abandoning this review and following a link to the article. (Or maybe not.)
This review doesn't even pretend to be postmodern. Hm, is it perhaps mannerist? On the other hand, the article being reviewed claims to be a postmodern work of art. And I would say it is.
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what's postmodern?
I'm assuming you have a fairly good handle on what Perl is and what a computer language is, or at least think you do. But what's postmodern mean in the title of this talk?
Here's a passage from the article giving a sketch of a postmodernist way of looking at things: "Look at the big picture. Don't focus in on two or three things to the exclusion of other things. Keep everything in context. Don't go out of your way to justify stuff that's obviously cool. Don't ridicule ideas merely because they're not the latest and greatest. Pick your own fashions. Don't let someone else tell you what you should like."
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About the Reviewer
I'm a long time advocate of Perl and Perl culture.
I had not previously read anything about postmodernism that made any sense to me.
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modern and postmodern
The article puts forward and illustrates (and like that) views about the relationship between modern and postmodern. In a somewhat misguided surge of modernism, I'll list some contrasts I encountered in the article.
| modern | postmodern |
|---|---|
| serious | comic |
| insists on either or choices | prefers to have both and |
| picks one piece and glorifies it | shows the relationship between the pieces |
| makes everything look the same | lets the appearance reveal what a thing does |
| focuses on hammering (attacking) things | focuses on the carpenter freely choosing his tools |
| "I'm sorry Dave. I can't allow you to do that.'" | "Very good, sir.'" or "Very good, madam." or rarely "Tsk, tsk.'" |
To partially correct the above distortion, you may want to read the article.
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go for it
Read this baby and learn what all this has to do with Perl. Or not.
Also, you may get a sense for the meaning of words like "modern" and "postmodern" and "deconstructionism" and "reconstructionism" and even "'Tsall good". Observe Larry put humpty dumpty back together again. 'Tsall good.
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