RE: Why we're here

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From:

Jesús Quiroga

Date:

July 24, 2000 06:53

Subject:

RE: Why we're here

Message ID:

4.3.2.7.0.20000724154552.00b34cc0@ix.netcorps.com

At 14:28 24/07/00, you wrote:
></LURK>
>Hmmm...  I'm really not enough of a Guru to be commenting to this list, yet,
>in this context, not being a guru makes me uniquely qualified to comment.

If this list were for gurus only, I would have to unsubscribe.


>Could some one explain to me in what way perl is "too complex?"  I came to
>perl not from the UNIX/C++/C background that it was supposedly designed to
>attract, but from the Windows/VB background that are its staunchest
>opponents.  I did not find it hard or complex, or difficult.

Perl isn't. The problem is the perception of Perl as hard, complex and
difficult. Lots of people still don't break the ice. We should fight that
and recruit as many new users as possible.


>The fact of the matter is that as [Ask Bjoern Hansen] wrote, "We don't have
>to argue over if perl is an appropriate language, when it clearly is."
>To my mind the issue of complexity, difficulty, etc is purely a perception
>problem, and not a "real" problem, except that problems of perception are as
>real as the people with the incorrect perceptions.  This is a PR problem,
>and the best way to eliminate it is with lots of posative PR.  I'm not
>talking about glossy magazine ads, and the like, although those are usefull
>tools.  Word of mouth is PR, giving an interview is PR, writing an article
>is PR, and it's everyone in the perl communities responsibility to see that
>the word gets out.  The key is to recognize that the erroneous ideas about
>Perl <=5.6 are too deeply entrenched to be weeded out, and that we need to
>start fresh with positive promotion of Perl 6.

>To sum up, "Don't change the language, change people's perception of the
>language."

We are about to change the language, in fact :-) Why not introduce some
changes to help the marketing strategy that Perl should have in order to
grow? Marketing and PR are different things to me.

I think the best possible marketing for Perl6 would be to be able to say
that Perl6 is more powerful, flexible and useful than Perl5 for those who
already know Perl, AND simpler and easier to learn for new users.



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   Jesús Quiroga   (jquiroga@pobox.com)

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