From: Tim Hammerquist <tim@...>
Date: 2002-06-01T10:27:19+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby jobs

Sean Russell graced us by uttering:
> Dan Sugalski wrote:
> > Nope. Perl is, like so many other things in the realm of computers,
> > an after-the-fact acronym. It really was just "Perl" to start with,
> > not standing for anything in particular.
> 
> Interesting.  I wonder why Larry chose "perl", then, since "perl"
> isn't a word.  Did he intend "pearl", but simply misspell it?  Would
> he admit it if he had?

I heard a (possibly joking) account that Larry intended to name the
language "pearl", but the fact that a programming language of that name
already existed, along with Larry's preference to type only 4 characters
instead of 5, caused the language to be names as it is now.

> The "'perl' is an acronym' always struck me as true, via Occam's
> razor.

That depends on how Larry's mind works which answer is actually less
complex. =)

If the name "pearl" already existed in Larry's mind, it would be less
complex to both (1) use it and (2) shorten it by removing an (arguably)
unimportant character.  Thus Occam's Razor favors the anecdote above...
maybe. =)  We'd have to get into Larry's head to find out for sure, and
I'm having enough trouble existing inside my own head!

Cheers!
Tim Hammerquist
-- 
For the sake of argument I'll ignore all your fighting words.
    -- Larry Wall in <199710221710.KAA24242@wall.org>