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It's all spinning wheels and self-doubt until the first pot of coffee.

Software and Community

I joined the Apache project for the software. I stayed for the community. Likewise Perl. The software is interesting, but the people are more interesting. So now that I'm really not even writing much Perl, I'm still involved with the community, to some degree, because they are cool people.
Source: DrBacchus' Journal: Software and community

I’ve been working with Perl for just about 10 years now, and though I’ve been a bit of a stranger lately, I used to be a regular on #perl on several IRC networks. And, when companies I worked for paid for travel as freely as for paper clips, I made rounds at a few conferences. I was lucky enough to meet a few other #perl regulars. I doubt most of them remember me since they‘re a fairly close-nit group, and I’d only made the one appearance, despite constantly swearing I’d make it to a YAPC at some point. But I always thought it was cool as hell to actually have had a beer at the same table in Boston with authors of some of my favorite O‘Reilly perl books.

<p>But, I got busy, stopped hanging out in <span class="caps">IRC</span> so much, and also decided that I needed to expand my horizons and stop being so narrowly focused on one language.  I got into Java, Python, shell scripting, and <span class="caps">PHP</span>.  I started this weblog, and I tried to purposefully keep away from Perl.  Of course, I can&#8217;t stay away, because Perl code comes out of my fingertips as naturally as breathing when a problem presents itself for solution.</p>

<p>And then there&#8217;s community.  I&#8217;ve yet to find a Java community as quirky and entertaining as that surrounding Perl.  Thus, Java bores me.  I use it, but it&#8217;s strictly business, mostly.</p>

<p>When what you&#8216;re doing <strong>is</strong> strictly business, I guess that&#8217;s desirable.  But when you eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff, having a group of people constantly doing clever things and being odd certainly makes it more rewarding.  It&#8217;s predictability versus creativity.  To get the job done, you want solid and dependable tools.  To have fun, you want some challenge and unexpected results.</p>

<p>To me, Perl and its community offers both.  I think Python might, also, but I&#8217;m not as familiar there.  Java and other technologies are mostly business.  Maybe this also crosses over into the difference between IT people and CS people, and whether you&#8216;re here to work or here to play and get paid.</p>

<p>Hmm.</p>

shortname=software_and_community

Archived Comments

  • Mark Eichin
    I found EuroPython a great way to hook into the python community, since so many of the notables (and not-so-notables) were there. I hope to drag myself to one of the US python conferences too (since I live here :) After years in the perl community (I've recently gotten email requests for code that I wrote under perl 3) (but also distant from it in more recent times) I've found the python community (as it centers around comp.lang.python) to be receptive and polite, as well as creative. It's a little less insane - I remember the glee with which s/foo/bar/eieio was received, when marc -at- mit discovered it - but still exciting and useful... Of course, I've only been in python-space since January 2003.
  • Randal L. Schwartz
    If you're ever in the same city as me, I'd be happy to have a beer with you. See http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/dot-plan.txt for my travel schedule.