“If there's a particular problem that Perl is trying to solve, it's the basic fact that all programming languages suck. Sort of the concept of original sin, applied to programming languages.”

Public Talks, The State of the Onion 10

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Larry Wall294

American computer programmer and author, creator of Perl 1954

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General sources

“If you want to program in C, program in C. It's a nice language. I use it occasionally…”

Larry Wall (1954) American computer programmer and author, creator of Perl

[7577@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV, 1990]
Usenet postings, 1990

“8: A programming language is low level when its programs require attention to the irrelevant.”

Alan Perlis Epigrams on Programming

Epigrams on Programming, 1982

“To the designer of programming languages, I say: unless you can support the paradigms I use when I program, or at least support my extending your language into one that does support my programming methods, I don't need your shiny new languages. […] To persuade me of the merit of your language, you must show me how to construct programs in it.”

Robert Floyd (1936–2001) American computer scientist

The Paradigms of Programming (1979)