All language designers are arrogant. Goes with the territory... :-) Larry Wall in <1991Jul13.010945.19157@netlabs.com Although the Perl Slogan is There's More Than One Way to Do It, I hesitate to make 10 ways to do something. :-) Larry Wall in <9695@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> And don't tell me there isn't one bit of difference between null and space, because that's exactly how much difference there is. :-) Larry Wall in <10209@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> "And I don't like doing silly things (except on purpose)." Larry Wall in <1992Jul3.191825.14435@netlabs.com> : And it goes against the grain of building small tools. Innocent, Your Honor. Perl users build small tools all day long. Larry Wall in <1992Aug26.184221.29627@netlabs.com> Be consistent. Larry Wall in the perl man page Besides, including is a fatal error on machines that don't have it yet. Bad language design, there... :-) Larry Wall in <1991Aug22.220929.6857@netlabs.com> Besides, it's good to force C programmers to use the toolbox occasionally. :-) Larry Wall in <1991May31.181659.28817@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov> Besides, REAL computers have a rename() system call. :-) Larry Wall in <7937@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> break; /* don't do magic till later */ Larry Wall in stab.c from the perl source code But you have to allow a little for the desire to evangelize when you think you have good news. Larry Wall in <1992Aug26.184221.29627@netlabs.com> /* dbmrefcnt--; */ /* doesn't work, rats */ Larry Wall in hash.c from the perl source code #define NULL 0 /* silly thing is, we don't even use this */ Larry Wall in perl.c from the perl source code #define SIGILL 6 /* blech */ Larry Wall in perl.c from the perl source code echo "Congratulations. You aren't running Eunice." Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution echo "ICK, NOTHING WORKED!!! You may have to diddle the includes.";; Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution echo "Your stdio isn't very std." Larry Wall in Configure from the perl distribution #else /* !STDSTDIO */ /* The big, slow, and stupid way */ Larry Wall in str.c from the perl source code "Help save the world!" -- Larry Wall in README Hey, I had to let awk be better at *something*... :-) Larry Wall in <1991Nov7.200504.25280@netlabs.com>1 I don't know if it's what you want, but it's what you get. :-) Larry Wall in <10502@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> I dunno, I dream in Perl sometimes... Larry Wall in <8538@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> if (instr(buf,sys_errlist[errno])) /* you don't see this */ Larry Wall in eval.c from the perl source code if (rsfp = mypopen("/bin/mail root","w")) { /* heh, heh */ Larry Wall in perl.c from the perl source code If you want your program to be readable, consider supplying the argument. Larry Wall in the perl man page I know it's weird, but it does make it easier to write poetry in perl. :-) Larry Wall in <7865@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> I'll say it again for the logic impaired. Larry Wall but it wouldn't be as clean. I do occasionally worry about that. --lwall In general, they do what you want, unless you want consistency. Larry Wall in the perl man page "It is easier to port a shell than a shell script." Larry Wall It's all magic. :-) Larry Wall in <7282@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> It's documented in The Book, somewhere... Larry Wall in <10502@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> Guilty as charged. Perl is happily ugly, and happily derivative. Larry Wall in <1992Aug26.184221.29627@netlabs.com> Yeah, you filter it through Tom Christiansen. :-) -- Larry Wall In the first pass, install perl. :-) Larry Wall <6849@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> Just don't compare it with a real language, or you'll be unhappy... :-) Larry Wall in <1992May12.190238.5667@netlabs.com> Just don't create a file called -rf. :-) Larry Wall in <11393@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> That's gonna be tough for Randal to beat... :-) Larry Wall in <1991Apr29.072206.5621@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov> Let's say the docs present a simplified view of reality... :-) Larry Wall in <6940@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> Let us be charitable, and call it a misleading feature :-) Larry Wall in <2609@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> School of Simulated Simplicity. [Was that sufficiently incendiary? :-)] Larry Wall in <1992Jan10.201804.11926@netlabs.com want to know anyway... :-) Larry Wall in <1991Aug7.180856.2854@netlabs.com> /* now make a new head in the exact same spot */ Larry Wall in cons.c from the perl source code OK, enough hype. Larry Wall in the perl man page