SPUG:New Mtg Info, for 6/11

[Tim Maher]

SPUGsters,

Remember that this month's meeting is on the 2nd Wednesday,
6/11, not the 3rd Tuesday.  Please take advantage of this
situation by inviting your friends who can't attend on Tuesdays
to attend this meeting.

Also note that the main topic has changed from a talk about a
new Regex-related program to a general Q & A session on Regexes.
So please come armed with questions about how to construct
regexes and use pattern matching techniques, and be prepared
to be informed!

Those wishing to dine with others at Cedars, please RSVP to the
list with your projected arrival times.
**************************************************************

         June 2003 Seattle Perl Users Group Meeting
     -----------------------------------------------------
   Talk 1:   Regex Q & A Session
   Speaker: Michael Wolf

   Time-Permitting, a second, "bonus" topic:
     Talk 2:    Perl Certification: Why, How, What?
     Moderator: Tim Maher

   Time-Permitting, a third, "super-sized" topic:
     Talk 3:     mg2mgp: A Preprocessor for Magicpoint
     Moderator: Tim Maher

      Time: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 7-9pm
  Location: SAFECO bldg, Brooklyn St. and NE 45th St.

      Cost: Admission is free and open to the general public.
      Info: http://seattleperl.org/

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Talk 1:

This month's meeting will begin with a "Question and Answer"
session on Perl's Regular Expressions and associated operators
(m//, s///, split, etc.).  Questions from beginner to expert
level will be welcomed, and answers will be attempted.  8-}
Even if you haven't yet used regexes, and therefore don't
have specific questions yet, come along to learn what's vexing
other people, and the associated regexical antidotes.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Talk 2:

In whatever time Michael leaves unused, Tim Maher will lead
an audience discussion on the controversial topic of Perl
Certification, offering a sneak preview of yet another event
from The Perl Conference.

The official announcement from The Perl Conference for the
45-minute session on Perl Certification follows, after the  
section on Talk 3.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Talk 3:

If there's still even more time, Tim will talk about his latest
creation -- a preprocessor for the Magicpoint presentation
package, that makes it much easier to compose presentations.
It consists of 12 separate pure-Perl filters, most of which
do heavy-duty text parsing and reformatting of some kind.

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Perl community has thus far embraced the proposition of
"Perl Certification" with all the zeal of a Trip to the Dentist.

And that's understandable, because many certification tests
are full of defective questions, short on correct answers,
and blithely lacking in sensitivity to the programmer's actual
talents.  And nobody wants to risk a career opportunity on
the verdict of an inadequate testing instrument.

Worst of all, some test reports only provide one bit of
information!  And although a PASS/FAIL grade may be suitable
for Gym class, it's certainly not adequate for a enterprise
as complex as programming.

But these are all arguments against bad tests, not against
the notion of testing itself.

Professionals specializing in other programming languages,
from C to Visual Basic, can present certificates attesting to
their knowledge, and many hiring managers expect to see them.

Of course, we Perl programmers like to think Perl is
fundamentally different from C, and that the skills underlying
"PerlThink" are mystical qualities that can't be measured.
But are we really so unique?  Perhaps it's time to admit we
aren't, and get some credentials!

This panel will explore these ideas and their potential
effects on our language and community, with input from
a panel of professionals representing the Perl language,
software publishing, software training, IS management, and
the testing industry.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Pre- and Post- Meeting Activities
---------------------------------
The pre-meeting dinner will be at the Cedars restaurant,
at 50th St. and Brooklyn, in the University District, near
the Safeco building where the meeting will take place. The
phone number is 527-5247. If you're planning to be there,
please RSVP to the list by 2pm on the meeting day with
your expected arrival time (5:30-5:45pm is recommended).

TO BE FAIR, from now on only those who comply with the
RSVP policy (and are therefore counted in the seating
reservation) will be allowed to sit at the speaker's table.

======================================================
| Tim Maher, Ph.D.            tim at timmaher.org       |
| SPUG Founder & Leader       spug at seattleperl.org   |
| Seattle Perl Users Group    www.seattleperl.org    |
======================================================