[boulder.pm] activity on this list

Boy Mozart bmozart at frii.com
Thu Jan 20 22:54:52 CST 2000


On Thu, 20 Jan 2000, Walter Pienciak wrote:

> This list is pretty quiet -- damn quiet -- as lists go.  I 
> made a deliberate decision when I started it: stay in the
> background and let it evolve into something the group wanted,
> rather than trying to control or direct it.

It's still a new list, isn't it?  It's not more than a couple months
old, IIRC.  My opinion is that it could use a little direction at first,
until it gets some kind of impetus going.  Look at the discussion you've
sparked with this message, along with the cgi.pm spin-off.

> Feedback time.  Stop lurking, put your fingers on the keyboards,
> and tell us why you're here, what you hoped the list/group would
> be, and what needs to happen to get it there.  Please. 

Me?  Lurk?

I'm here because I'm new to Perl.  I don't use it at work, but I was
interested in it and from what I've seen so far it looks pretty
powerful.  But like I said, I'm new, and I was looking for some place
where I could ask questions--or answer them--without it being an
environment like comp.lang.perl.misc.

I mean granted, you could answer a lot of questions on Perl by saying
"Read the FAQ", but "Read the FAQ, you [censored]" tends to turn people
off in my experience.  I'm teaching myself Perl, I'm not depending on
anyone else to teach me, but an open, friendly, maybe even slightly
sympathetic forum would help.  The discussions I've read here
already about programming practices and who likes what module and why
have taught me some things about Perl.

I like to socialize a little, too.  I tend to be better at it in
e-mail than I am in real life.  Wayde made a good point about social
gatherings where people tend to stare at each other, especially at the
start, and it's true, it takes time and effort and a topic or speaker or
tutorial might help.  I've never been a monger of anything, so I have no
experience with gatherings, but I'll take a shot at it.  Some nights
during the week I'm busy, but if I get a week's notice I can usually get
out of it--whoever's making me busy isn't going to miss me terribly one
night a month.

Barring that, e-mail is a great way to get to know people, despite the
rumours about all the "weirdos" you meet on the net.  I happen to be a
hard-working member of society, even if I am weird.

Speaking of newbies, BTW, Shawn, if you want a source where newbies can
go to learn Perl, I highly recommend "Teach Yourself Perl in 21 Days" by
Laura Lemay, published by SAMS.  I'm perpetually stuck on Day 11, but
that's just because I'm lazy.  It's clearly written, plenty of examples
and exercises, and you don't have to finish it in three weeks, honest.  
I also recommend "The Perl Cookbook" by Christiansen and Torkington,
from O'Reilly.  Not to learn Perl, but to help out when you're writing
scripts on your own and can't work something out.

> We have 48 people on the list, each of whom was interested enough to
> sign up.  What do you want?

I want a cup of coffee.  I'm going back out to look at the eclipse some
more, and it's really cold out there.


-BM.




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