On 25 May 2000, Roman Milner wrote:

...

...

...

...

...

"KM" == Ken Manheimer <klm@digicool.com> writes:

KM> I have some misgivings with this outlook. It sounds like KM> people who seek job security by having expertise with a system KM> that closes out unfamiliar options - whether the options are KM> better or worse.

I'm not in any way unfamiliar with perl. If this had been a language that I didn't know or, or any technology that I didn't know - I would have an opened mind. I've been down the perl road, and have made a personal choice never to do it again.

I should have used "unwelcome" instead of "unfamiliar" in that sentence - i tried to say that in a number of ways, eg: Me> For all of you that love Python, and testify to either leaving perl Me> with great relief or not being willing to learn it in the first place

[...]

I think that anyone who wants to claim Zope expertise will need to know and be willing to code in perl.

I dunno. There may be some Zope jobs where knowing perl would be necessary, but there may also be some jobs where knowing XML, SQL, XLST(?), WebDAV, the ZODB, SSL, LDAP, Oracle, medusa, C, *all* sorts of things would be necessary. Maybe you're proficient with all those things - i'm not! The thing is, Zope is an extensible ORB whose primary purpose in life is to connect disparate things together - you shouldn't need to be proficient with every aspect of it, in order to have mastery with it. I guess i can understand being uncomfortable with seeing a transition from a somewhat closed, very attractive (python) world to a more wide-open one that includes less attractive elements. Nonetheless, i really think this ultimately means that your zope skills are going to be more valuable, whether or not they include the perl aspect, because zope as a whole will have wider acceptance, a firmer place in the world. (Do you think the perl folks are, conversely, going to feel they have to know python? I have to say, i esteem python enough to think that the ultimate result will be increasing prevalence and preference for python.) Ken Manheimer klm@digicool.com