carpe linguam

[Matt Curtin]

>>>>> On Sun, 22 Aug 1999 17:07:14 GMT,
    "Fredrik Lundh" <fredrik at pythonware.com> said:

Fredrik> on the other hand, I'm not sure that would have helped.
Fredrik> judging from most threads that tchrist appears in (be it on
Fredrik> comp.lang.perl.misc, gnu.misc.discuss, or this group), things
Fredrik> often turn into a great flame fest when he's involved, by
Fredrik> some mysterious reason.

I haven't ever met Tom personally, but I've known him online for a
long time.

Tom complains loudly when something is broken or stupid.  Tom is very
direct; some would say "abrasive".  Tom is almost always right.  Most
people who are so taken aback by his presentation are unfamiliar with
him and/or are likely to take his arguments personally.

The lack of Python man pages is a problem for Unix folks.  We have an
online manual for a reason.  We're used to tools like `man' and
`apropos' that use the manual and help us find the things we seek.
Tom isn't "attacking" Python for not having it; he's (loudly) pointing
out a very legitimate gripe.  He similarly chastises the authors of
other programs (mostly from the Land o' Linux) that lack man pages.
Tom knows what sort of effort goes into the production of
documentation; he's put in a lot of time to make Perl's documentation
enviable.  He's done it for the good of the community, without
expectation of monetary compensation.  (As it turns out, his writings
have brought in some money, but I'm sure that if you ask, you'll find
that this wasn't the motivating factor.)  His gripe about the lack of
documentation (man pages) could fan a flame if someone chose to take
offense instead of fixing the problem by converting the documentation
into man format.

Tom has legitimate gripes against the GNU folks for claiming that his
excellent documentation isn't free.  With all due respect to RMS, one
of the two at the center of the "Perl docs aren't free" debate is a
linguist, and RMS isn't he.  RMS is certainly a master hacker and a
competent writer, but I have a strong distaste for his insistence that
only that which is perpetually available for review, change, and
redistribution qualifies as "free".  Tom's colorful presentation of
his side of this debate could trigger many a flamefest.

At the same time, Tom listens to legitimate gripes against his work.
He once yelled at a newbie for doing something stupid with his
headers.  I posted a response that was almost word for word that
pointed out a serious problem in his headers.  He didn't complain
about me, he didn't tell me to get a life, he didn't go sulk in the
corner.  He just fixed the problem and went on his merry way.

In my opinion, you'd be much better off learning what you can from Tom
instead of trying to criticize him for his perhaps suboptimal manner
of presentation and attempting to justify your own position.

Tom is trying to get the Perl community to learn Python and learn from
it.  Python has done some things well.  It has done some other things
not so well.  We, the users and designers of languages, have a great
deal to learn from each other.  Perl folks generally seem to recognize
that; it's sad that so many other language communities don't
reciprocate.  It's especially sad to see that Python's is one that
seems to like its glass house.

I hope that in the long run, the Python community as a whole will
prove me wrong.

-- 
Matt Curtin cmcurtin at interhack.net http://www.interhack.net/people/cmcurtin/