“It's not that Perl programmers are idiots, it's that the language rewards idiotic behavior in a way that no other language or tool has ever done.”

—  Erik Naggum

Re: can lisp do what perl does easily? http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.lisp/msg/fc76ebab1cb2f863 (Usenet article).
Usenet articles, Perl

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It's not that Perl programmers are idiots, it's that the language rewards idiotic behavior in a way that no other langu…" by Erik Naggum?
Erik Naggum photo
Erik Naggum 118
Norwegian computer programmer 1965–2009

Related quotes

Erik Naggum photo

“Rewarding incompetence and ignorance increases the number of incompetent programmers. Designing programming languages and tools so incompetent programmers can feel better about themselves is not the way to go.”

Erik Naggum (1965–2009) Norwegian computer programmer

Re: New Lisp ? http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.functional/msg/b69c767370ee7c43 (Usenet article).
Usenet articles, Miscellaneous

Larry Wall photo

“At many levels, Perl is a 'diagonal' language.”

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

[199709021854.LAA12794@wall.org, 1997]
Usenet postings, 1997

Erik Naggum photo

“I believe C++ instills fear in programmers, fear that the interaction of some details causes unpredictable results. Its unmanageable complexity has spawned more fear-preventing tools than any other language, but the solution should have been to create and use a language that does not overload the whole goddamn human brain with irrelevant details.”

Erik Naggum (1965–2009) Norwegian computer programmer

Re: Checking for Errors Before Run Time http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.lisp/msg/41997404227dcc12 (Usenet article).
Usenet articles, C++

Godfrey Bloom photo

“In the old days, they put idiots in the village stocks. Now we put them on the Today programme.”

Godfrey Bloom (1949) UK EU parliament member

John Prescott, Evening Standard, Wednesday 7 August 2013, p. 16
About

Emily Brontë photo

“I 'never told my love' vocally; still, if looks have language, the merest idiot might have guessed I was over head and ears;”

Emily Brontë book Wuthering Heights

Source: Wuthering Heights

Franz Kafka photo

“One idiot is one idiot. Two idiots are two idiots. Ten thousand idiots are a political party.”

Franz Kafka (1883–1924) author

Was written in a slightly different way by Leo Longanesi in Italian, above form has been attributed to Kafka without evidence.
Misattributed
Source: One Idiot Is One Idiot. Two Idiots Are Two Idiots. Ten Thousand Idiots Are a Political Party, Quote Investigator, 2021-10-08 https://quoteinvestigator.com/2021/10/08/idiots/,

Mark Twain photo

“In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.”

Mark Twain book The Innocents Abroad

Source: The Innocents Abroad (1869), Ch. 61.
Context: The people of those foreign countries are very, very ignorant. They looked curiously at the costumes we had brought from the wilds of America. They observed that we talked loudly at table sometimes. They noticed that we looked out for expenses and got what we conveniently could out of a franc, and wondered where in the mischief we came from. In Paris they just simply opened their eyes and stared when we spoke to them in French! We never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language.

Larry Wall photo

“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.”

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

Public Talks, The State of the Onion 10

Larry Wall photo

“But the possibility of abuse may be a good reason for leaving capabilities out of other computer languages, it's not a good reason for leaving capabilities out of Perl.”

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

[199709251614.JAA15718@wall.org, 1997]
Usenet postings, 1997

David Cay Johnston photo

“In modern language we think of "idiot" as someone who is stupid or a fool. That is not the classical meaning... An idiot is someone who cares only about himself and has no regard for anyone else, and that's terribly important when you think about tyrants. ...We think of tyrants as people who are horrible... oppressors. ...In its classic historic meaning, tyrant was simply someone who ceased power.”

David Cay Johnston (1948) Investigative journalist and author

The Tyrant Next Time (November 7, 2019)

Related topics