[tpm] Why perl lost steam...

[arocker at Vex.Net]

>   Let's face it, Perl isn't exactly easy. I am hoping Perl 6 may help,
> but Perl 5 sigils and context take a lot of getting used to. When I
> taught students, they had a hard enough time with basic Java -

Every problem has an irreducible level of complexity. (To put it another
way, some things are just really hard.) It's usually easy to increase the 
complexity by foolish choice of approach, notation, or classification.

Intellectual progress usually results from experience (and genius)
simplifying what once was mysterious, (long division used to be something
taught as university level mathematics), but no matter how hard you try or
how clever your approach, a given problem has an inherent difficulty.

Looking at the repeated attempts over the years, (from COBOL to RPG II,
through SQL and drag-and-drop programming packages), to render programming
a common skill, I am reminded of the machine described in "Gulliver's
Travels", http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gulliver/section9.rhtml that would
enable the ignorant to write books on any subject without knowing anything
about them. (I think I've read some of its output).

Do you really want serious problems addressed by people who can't handle
simple programming languages?