Re: [MacPerl-Forum] Who is MacPerl?

[Bruce Van Allen <bva@cruzio.com>]

At 9:01 AM -0500 8/30/99, Jefferson R. Lowrey wrote:
>At 6:35 AM -0500 8/30/99, Greenblatt & Seay wrote:
>>>OK, you sick person, stop abusing our good friend MacPerl.  :)
>>>
>>>--
>>>Chris Nandor
>>
>>What is the gender of MacPerl? Does anybody else picture MacPerl wearing a
>>kilt?
>
>Nonsense.  A Kilt is entirely the wrong Ethnicity.  Matthias is not a Brit.
>
>Now, eating Lefse with Lutkefisk, maybe...


Actually Perl looks -- and works/plays -- great in many styles. Why restrict?

Since we can assign various voices, gendered or not, to our Macs, let 
context determine this.

Besides, as Larry Wall could remind us, Perl is based on "natural 
language", and in particular English, which is far more capable than 
most of the world's languages for terse yet rich statements. Being 
genderless is part of the reason for that. See the latest Harper's 
for an essay on this topic by the great literary critic H. L. Mencken 
(written in 1935)...

Not to go too far with this, but good programming is more like poetry 
than other forms of writing, so we should aspire to use the tool -- 
Perl -- in its fullest capabilities, rather than being limited by our 
own socially constructed imaginations...  ;-)

[OK, I admit, I'm 'back' from high in the Sierras, but I'm not sure 
I'm at sea level yet...]


- Bruce

__Bruce_Van_Allen___bva@cruzio.com__831_429_1688_V__
__PO_Box_839__Santa_Cruz_CA__95061__831_426_2474_W__


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