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rus20376 commented on Ask HN: Is it still a good idea to learn Perl for a young developer?    · Posted by u/not-so-darkstar
not-so-darkstar · 3 months ago
It's not my first language. I already know Python and I think it's very boring.

It's mostly for personal reasons regarding design of PLs and to be able to learn a new way to think about programming.

rus20376 · 2 months ago
100% correct!

Larry Wall, the inventor of Perl once said of Lisp syntax "Lisp has all the visual appeal of oatmeal with fingernail clippings mixed in."[1]

I would argue that Python is about the same, but without the nail clippings. Just plain oatmeal.

[1] https://groups.google.com/g/comp.lang.clos/c/edcyFOBLMeo/m/M...

rus20376 commented on Ask HN: Is it still a good idea to learn Perl for a young developer?    · Posted by u/not-so-darkstar
rus20376 · 2 months ago
Yes, absolutely!

At one point it made sense for everyone to learn Perl because it was the de facto scripting language for server side components of the, then brand new, World Wide Web. Nowadays backend software development and other Perl niches like shell scripting are crowded with competitors. But that does not invalidate Perl in the least! Indeed, Perl is still the best "power tool" available to a systems programmer, system administrator, or anyone working in the realm of "shell scripts".

Learn Perl because it is the most powerful way to write scripts on Linux (or any other Unix like operating system).

rus20376 commented on Psilocybin reduced depression symptoms as much as leading antidepressant (2021)   massivesci.com/notes/psil... · Posted by u/dp-hackernews
mistrial9 · 4 months ago
> forcing people chemically into a hallucinatory state

can you show evidence of any people being forced to do anything at all ?

rus20376 · 4 months ago
You misunderstand. The body does not naturally hallucinate. To get it to do so requires overriding (forcing) the normal functions against their usual behavior with chemicals.

Deleted Comment

rus20376 commented on Psilocybin reduced depression symptoms as much as leading antidepressant (2021)   massivesci.com/notes/psil... · Posted by u/dp-hackernews
rus20376 · 4 months ago
More recent than this article have been failed clinical trials of psychedelics. Turns out forcing people chemically into a hallucinatory state isn’t that effective. To the point of this older article it seems that existing therapies are probably not the effective either.

So the search should be for therapies that surpass existing ones.

rus20376 commented on The Business of Phish (2013)   priceonomics.com/business... · Posted by u/Tomte
rus20376 · 5 months ago
> Phish doesn’t make money by selling music. They make money by selling live music

Let’s be intellectually honest here, probably the majority of tickets are sold to people who are at best casual fans of the music but are seeking a temporary autonomous zone in which to consume drugs. That’s the real product. I make no moral judgment here about that, but any discussion of this band without any serious mention of the drug culture is inherently dishonest.

u/rus20376

KarmaCake day70October 5, 2021View Original