Ode to Perl and Larry Wall

I woke up this morning nostalgic about Perl, the programming language. I used to write hundreds of lines of Perl code every day. It paved the way to a career, a livelihood, and a family. I miss the community and the online user groups. Those who used Perl know what I am talking about. I decided to wear my Pittsburgh Perl Workshop polo shirt today.

Pittsburgh Perl Workshop polo

The whole day has been filled with emotions about a programming language and memories of spectacular coffee at PPW, learning from others, and getting the chance to meet Larry Wall. I miss my dear friend Robert Blackwell, who kept me connected to the community and encouraged me to give back.

I wrote a post about how I learned to program and detailed my interactions with Perl, but it can’t be understated how impactful Perl was on my life. It made the web accessible and my dreams obtainable.

So, channeling my emotions, I decided to write a poem. It would be the thing Larry would do. WWLWD is what I like to say. Larry would say that there is more than one way to do things. Here’s my poem about Perl and Larry Wall written in Perl. This was the first Perl that I have written in six years. Oh, how I love the Perl language.

A Perl Poem written in Perl by Hans Scharler

Thank you, Perl.

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