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Trolling Usenet to Spread Perl
- During the late 1980s, I spent a lot of time "trolling" Usenet groups like
comp.unix.questionsandcomp.unix.shellto spread the word about the brand-new Perl Programming language. - I made it a personal goal to answer as many Unix questions as possible using Perl.
- Inevitably, users would post requests saying something like: "Would someone be kind enough to provide me with a script (sed? awk? no perl please) that I could run on several hundred files?"
- Whenever I saw the "no perl please" disclaimer, I would write up a response showing:
- First, the standard shell/awk/sed solution.
- Second, the much shorter (and usually much faster) Perl solution.
- By showing the dramatic contrast in speed and readability, I successfully recruited a massive number of early Perl adopters this way! See Usenet and the No Perl Please Challenge.
These facts are as Randal recalls them, but much time has passed for most of this. If you find a factual error, please email realmerlyn@gmail.com.