Newsgroups: comp.lang.scheme
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From: lwall@netlabs.com (Larry Wall)
Subject: Re: Extension/Scripting language comparisons
Message-ID: <1995Jul10.184850.6854@netlabs.com>
Organization: NetLabs, Inc., Los Altos, California.
References: <3thlus$isi@hpbab.wv> <1995Jul7.165844.15244@netlabs.com> <3tlbsa$9l3@sanjuan.amtsgi.bc.ca> <LYNBECH.95Jul10094841@xenon.daimi.aau.dk>
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 1995 18:48:50 GMT
Lines: 25

In article <LYNBECH.95Jul10094841@xenon.daimi.aau.dk>,
Christian Lynbech <lynbech@xenon.daimi.aau.dk> wrote:
: I think that comparing Perl to a symphony is unfair. Think a piano
: piece by Chopin instead, with all its rich expression, and the
: metaphor holds better.

Oh, I dunno.  Mahler expressly expressed that he tried to put the whole
world into each of his symphonies.  Seems appropriate somehow.  :-)

Actually, even Mahler backed off a little in his (relatively) old age.
The 9th and 10th symphonies were more restrained, just as Perl 5 is
more restrained in some ways.  Mahler's 10th is my favorite symphony,
probably because I performed it twice in the Seattly Youth Symphony,
once with the 2nd fiddles, and once with the 1st.  Lots of fun--seems
the parts that aren't in 6 sharps are in 7 flats...

: Scheme could be a baroque organ piece. Requiring a larger instrument
: but still playable by the individual, and though the structure seems
: utterly complex to the untrained ear, it still has a strict, almost
: mathematic, and highly characteristic form.

If we're going to switch to the instrument metaphor, then I'd say
Scheme is a church organ and Perl is a theatre organ.

Larry
