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Damian Conway Sponsored
Use Perl is reporting that Damian Conway has been sponsored by several companies and individuals (most impressively Black Star who donated half of the needed $55k). Now Damian can continue working on amazing perl projects like Quantum::Superpositions and Lingua::Romana::Perligata for the next year!
Malicose noted that Damian sponsor page explains a bit more too.
Instead of bitching, perhaps some of the "coders" out there should use their spare time to try and develop something that they love AND somone would pay THEM for. (Not likely because the pool of truly talented coders is slim) Sounds like Damian got a dream job, good luck to him!
"Science is about ego as much as it is about discovery and truth " - I said it, so sue me.
Because they can write it off against tax? We sponsor projects all the time, and the main pitch I make to management is that not only do we benefit in certain ways as other /.'ers will no doubt make clear, but that we are also able to write the donation off against tax. In the UK (which is where Blackstar is), a $27,500 donation, will actually only really cost them about $15,000 after the savings they make on tax.
Heck, even multinationals as Phillips had such research teams. Basicly they gave people a lab. with the resources to "go their way". The result? Well, one of them was the CD player as we know it today. And what to think of MS ? Even seen the programmers there getting all the room they want to go their own way?
Sadly these tactics aren't possible in most cases due to the enourmas raise of wages and all (not every person qualifies for this setup, a lot will abuse their freedom). A bad thing since tactics like this will eventually lead to true innovation.
niceFire.com - Humor and Lego's or Lego's and Humor or Some Combination of
So...is there some reason they have to feel indebted to Conway? Is use of Perl the only reason for donation? Come on. I would have given if I weren't broke =) and my Perl skills amount to `print "hello world!"` =)
Stating on Slashdot that I like cheese since 1997.
The conspiracy theory is far more sexy and exciting, but it's unlikely to be true.
Agreed, but what is the other option? Twenty posts that say "Thanks"?
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
I don't think BlackStar endebted to Conway in particular. BlackStar use Perl for all their front-end and back-end systems, and some of their developers are fanatical Perl Hackers. They want to wear a 'Damian Conway is my bitch' T-shirt as a statement of fact :-) One of them also had a bit too much to drink.
The non-hacker directors probably thought it would be good marketing.
What do they know about perl? They don't even USE it as their database package!
What do you know about perl? It's a programming language, not a database package!
(Besides, as someone else pointed out, they use mod_perl - the smarter perl for apache)
"don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
Let's not forget that every single order from them comes with a handwritten "thanks" note. Checking my box here, in which I received my Buffy 4.1 and Angel 1.1 box sets, my last thanks was from "Terry".
Little touches like that humanise things. They really make a difference.
You're right. In some cases that would work fine, but not all I guess. Some times re-posts are good though, because I might miss them the first time =) In fact that's the case almost every time somebody cries about an article already being posted.... I almost never remeber seeing an article being posted on the subject.. I guess some people remember pointless facts better than I do =)
-----------------------
Jeremy 'PeelBoy' Amberg
Everything he said was correct. The guy that was claiming that "perl is for crackheads" etc etc didn't have a keen grasp of logic.
The only argument against Perl that you need is this.Everything is but a number spoken by itself.
That's nothing. Yahoo is putting Larry Wall's daughter through college.
It's all about the hits. Just think of the amount of people reading this on Slashdot who'd be tempted to click on the link to find out who they are.
There is far too much cynicism and paranoia here, whilst I couldnt confirm that the motives of Blackstar were 100% altruistic, I do know that they feel that they owe some debt to the Perl community having built the infrastructire of their business upon the labours of untold and unanmed people in that community.
Sure they are going to gain some kudos from this, and sure they are going to get some extra hits from it, but I am convinced that the greater benefit they will accrue, and I am sure they are aware of this, is from what will be achieved from their contribution in the development of Perl programming language and from the development of the Perl Community that will be a result of this group effort.
The most cynical tack I would take on this is that it will encourage more talented Perl programmers to want to work for them, and if so more power to their elbow.
I think if they were simpl aiming for a few more hits they would have piucked a more high profile venue to make their mark
didn't the ancient greeks have a system whereby you could either pay taxes or sponsor a play or the arts?
nice to have a similar system for OS
~ppppppppö
I really ought not to feed the trolls ....
Is that so?
Let's me think. This past weekend I went to the symphony to see a rendition of one of Alexander Zemlinksky's works, had hot passionate sex with a woman, turned down on offer to go out to lunch to attend a birthday party and was suprised by two different friends paying unexpected visits (one Friday night, one Saturday night).
What does having or not having a social life have to do with replying to a post on /. late Monday morning?
If I am an idiot, at least I am an idiot that can compose a post that is coherent and displays an understanding of logic. Too bad the same can not be said for you.
Not unlike your uncouth use of capital letters to display emphasis in a web forum at the dawn of the 21st century.
have a day,
-l
Hasn't anyone ever told you people there is no money to be made with open source software? There's NO way you can make a living at it. Why would anyone want to PAY money to someone for something they could just download for free.
Hmmmm...
:)
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
I had the great privilege to attend Dr. Conway's Quantum::Superpositions talk at the UofPerl in Seattle. He proved himself to be a witty and engaging speaker, and I strongly suggest that you attend any of his talks you can. The perl Community has continued a great tradition here--one of supporting its luminaries not only with kudos, but with cash. How much will Dr. Conway be able to accomplish in his year? I look forward to finding out.
I would love to see technology companies (especially those who rely on open source software) sponsor well-known gurus in the open source community the way Nike sponsors celebrity athletes. Personally, if I laid out $1000 for Damian, I would still feel like I have gotten more bang for my buck with Perl than for every upgrade of Visual Whatever++ that I've purchased in my lifetime.
-- My choice of computing platform is a symbol of my individuality and belief in personal freedom.
So then we can all get the error:
That would be funny! :) (Of course, it sound like you meant source for the binaries of perl)
A complete list of contributors can be found at http://yetanother.org/damian/contribs.html.
Last year, 'round about this time, I ordered a video from there to send to my brother in Oz as a festive season present. It's the first time i've ordered from there (erm, and the last time - i'm not a big pre-recorded video purchaser).
Some time just before the festive season itself, I received another package from them. "Yippee! Misdirect goods!" thinks I.
Nup - they had sent copies of "It's a Wonderful Life" out to thousands of people who had purchased off them in the previous year, as a festive season thank you gift.
Wow. I was impressed, anyway...
If I ever have need to purchase another pre-recorded video, they've got my cash (erm, credit card number. Whatever.)
...j
I feel that its not so important for the imediate development of Perl, but it is an interesting experiment in language design in general. Almost all programming languages take context from a terms position within a larger statement. Its such a universally implemented method that most people didn't even consider other ways of defining a language. Having each term define the role that they play in the expression is an novel change and allows people the ability to consider to alternatives to positional context.
The first one is how does any change in Perl halp me to overcome the natural obstacles that are built into IPv4.
Surely the problem is with IPv4 itself, perhaps you might be better put asking this question of some OS hackers that they might fix your problems or sooner implement IPv6
Of course, and as usual, I am sure that patches to IO::Socket to meet your concerns are certainly welcomed
But I do wish that they'd actually use .pl files instead of those vague entries.
"Ancillary does not mean you get to rule the world." --U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards, speaking to the FCC's lawyer
I've been using Perl for about three years and have loved every minute of it.
About six months ago I picked up Dr. Conway's Object Oriented Perl. Reading that book really took my understanding of Perl to a whole new level. Dr. Conway has a gift for truly grokking the heart of a matter and explaing it in a comprehensible manner. I've learned how to use Perl from the standard sources, the man pages, the FAQs, the camel and llama books. OOP taught me to understand Perl. I can not reccomend OOP highly enough for people that want to deeply understand Perl.
I really look forward to seeing what Dr. Conway will do with his year sabbatical to work on things Perl. He has a great mind.
On a tangent, I also think this is part of a growing wave of programming going in the right direction. Using public calls for money to put competent people to work on free software is a great way make free software a more intrical part of people's every day lives. It would be funny to look at sources of Perl or the Linux kernel and see:
/* the following code was made possible by a sponsorship from John Doe */
have a day,
-l
Blackstar have donated a significant amount of money to what is perceived by the Perl community as a good cause (let's forget the starving children in Africa for the time being, which is a truly worthy cause). Yet, rather than generating goodwill for Blackstar, a whole pack of rabid Slashbots wielding conspiracy theories come out of the woodwork, and start criticising them. If this is the way you show gratitude, I'd hate to see what you do when people piss you off.
Perhaps it was a genuinely altruistic donation, or simply nothing more than trying to gain the goodwill of a community (including many Slashbots who are pissed off with Amazon and are looking for a different online retailer from which to purchase videos). Or did you people not think of that? The conspiracy theory is far more sexy and exciting, but it's unlikely to be true.
Does anyone have any details on why Blackstar should feel so endebted to Conway? I feel I must be missing something...
It's all about the hits. Just think of the amount of people reading this on Slashdot who'd be tempted to click on the link to find out who they are. Even if 1% of the Slashdotters bought something there, it's a sizeable income.
But in the non-Slashdot-centric world view, it's good publicity, really. Consider the number of open source geeks now thinking "Hey, these Blackstar d00dz are cool!"
I'd like to ask you to please sponsor me. Currently, I am employed, working roughly 75+ hours/week, doing sysadmin work. What I would really like to do is work roughly 25 hours/week, dedicate some quality time to my girlfriend, and spend more time with my friends. Optimally, I don't even want to work at all.
Of course, this means I need your support. All I need is roughly USD $120,000.00 (my salary now, not counting bonuses), in order to meet my car payments, mortgage, and the occasional Broadway show outings and other finer things I am accustomed to.
Your contribution will enable me to become the perfect example that 'geeks' can be much more than the pocket-protector-wearing, shower-needing, D&D-playing social misfits portrayed in so many of those silly movies, and I will proudly mention your contributions in a webpage of my design.
I will also take the liberty of tattoing the names of the top 10 contributors on my left buttock.
So there you go, fellas. Give me your money. Let me take some time off, and live for free. Oh, fine, ok.... I'll also code some stuff and make it public, if you do so insist.
"We'll need 2000 crickets, 4 cans of Easy Cheese, and the fluid from 18 glowsticks for this plan to work...." - ph0n1c
Thats not much of a reason to give such a large amount to a developer.
Well, not sure about you, but I clicked that link thinking to myself 'Blackstar use Perl? Lets take a peek..'. Thats another hit. If more techy site such as Slashdot link to Blackstar in this way then thats quite a large number of hits, hits from people with high disposable incomes. This kind of stuff gets you in the press too ('UK Internet StartUp Gives Generously To Open Source' etc). Its advertising. And its alot more advertising than you'd get for $22.5k in the papers or on TV any other way. I'm suprised it doesn't happen more often.
Also, I think Blackstar was started by a developer and then bought up by venture capitalists. Quite possibly said developer wants to do some groovy with his/her new found cash. Generosity still exists apparently.
http://twitter.com/onion2k
The more I think about it the more I wonder. Is every slashdot editor supposed to read every slashdot article ever writen to figure out if something has been posted before or not? That's a lot of work.
With all the funding perhaps Damian can code some amazing new Perl software to do this for the editors?
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
What do they know about perl? They don't even USE it as their database package!
[nico@nico nico]$ HEAD http://www.blackstar.co.uk/
200 OK
Cache-Control: private
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 15:44:50 GMT
Pragma: no-cache
Server: Apache/1.3.9 (Unix) mod_perl/1.21
Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1
Expires: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 15:44:50 GMT
Client-Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 14:55:31 GMT
Client-Peer: 194.202.192.13:80
--
It's always sad to see people who don't really understand a language badmouthing it. Hate to disappoint you, but the pseudo regular expression that you posted above isn't even a valid perl expression. Also, you shouldn't say that a language is "read only" just because it supports a standardized system for pattern matching. Regular expressions are supported in any language that's worth anything (PHP, Python, Java, C/C++, etc...). From what I've heard they're even supported in your "superior" ASP. Readability of code is dependent on the coder not the language(unless you're coding in intercal). I've seen some very readable code written in perl and some garbage written in perl. The same goes for every language. So, please do a little more research before you go making generalizations about a language because of 1 specific feature. Also, you may want to check your facts about "nobody really knowing how to use [perl]" :-).
A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle.
And maybe Damian will code the much sought Perfect::Moderation perl module :)
--
1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
//Hasnt this been posted before?
/. readers (though I say so without having done any research.
You make me sorry I wasted my moderator points already. =) The former post was about the need for raising funds...if you had bothered to check before you posted that, you wouldn't have been modded down to -1. Please think before you post something like this. No, better still, don't post the "this has been posted before" type of post. It's annoying and rude, and oftentimes is news to a fair number of
Now I'll probably get modded down for being "offtopic" =) I hope not, because this can't be said enough. Whining about repeat posts is wrong. don't do it.
Stating on Slashdot that I like cheese since 1997.
Maybe because they are one of the few newconomy websites that truly understand the Internet and e-commerce.
I've always felt very comfortable shopping there, because Blackstar seems to care about its customers. It doesn't amaze me that instead of patenting stupid stuff like Amazon, they contribute to cool stuff.
I don't want to turn this into a commercial, so I must admit I am not happy with their plain text login form/handler. Or that some actors/actresses and goods appear in the database multiple times.
I've always felt very comfortable shopping there, because Blackstar seems to care about its customers. It doesn't amaze me that instead of patenting stupid stuff like Amazon, they contribute to cool stuff. Not all companies are stupid or evil and Damian Conway is benefitting from that right now.
--
Who is Damian and why should I know him? (there was no mention of who he is in the article)
Refrag
I have a website. It's about Macs.
Hrm, posting anonymously so we can mod up our posts?
What the hell's so funny about that? That's lame. It also scares me because my first name is Shane and my university, in a generic fashion, has named it's computer labs Computer Learning Centers (or CLCs.)
Ugh. It's not funny. It's sad.
Stating on Slashdot that I like cheese since 1997.
DOH!
Messed up the mod. Should've been interesting.
Those who don't know me, probably shouldn't trust me. Those that do know me, DEFINITELY shouldn't trust me.
If you have to compare one to DC, TC would be a much better fit than RS ever would, but even this really only goes so far. Comparing people always unfairly masks reality. Get to know them for themselves.
DC is an uncannily hard-working academic who creates wonderful things and gives them away to the world. He is always polite, genuinely kind, generous and non-judgemental. He's delightfully witty in a Larry-Wallian sort of way, which means he can if he wants use words in clever ways faster than most people can follow. He's a linguistic virtuoso. He's a cultured intellectual, classically educated, who nevertheless hides this quite well when need be. He is in every sense a gentleman and a scholar, one who quietly displays his honor and integrity--all this and an amateur athlete, too!
Doctor Conway is a brilliant and gifted but uncharacteristically (for self-styled computer giants) sensitive and unpretentious soul. He is a tribute to the entire technical community, and well worthy of this honor and opportunity.
It looks to me that you mis-interpreted the phrase "sources of Perl" as "sources written in Perl."
I think most people when encountering the phrase "sources of Perl" would interpret the statement as "sources of the Perl interpreter."
I suppose for pedantry's sake, I ought to have stated the latter.
have a day,
-l
Dr. Conway is a truly delightful speaker and "cowboy" hacker. He brings to Perl not just excellent coding chops but solid development methodology. His book on Object Orient Perl gives legitimacy and respect to this often ridiculed subject. His greatest contribution to the Perl community so far has been his outstanding presentations at YAPC, the Open Source Conference and the University of Perl series.
Damian Conway is both an inspired and inspiring individual. In a profession dominated by blowhards and egotists, he's a genuinely decent human being.
If you missed it earlier, here is a recent interview with him posted on Perl.com.
I had the priviledge of having Damien as my instructor a few weeks back for an OO Perl class that my company sponsored. It was undoubtedly the best class I have ever taken. Damien does a fantastic job of relating the subject matter in a clear matter, at the audience's level. I would love to say it was perfect, but there was just one problem:
There was room for 30 people in the room, but only 10 attended.
Damien registered his disappointment at the low turnout, because heh, he needs to make money too. If you haven't seen him, believe me, it is worth the time and money.
Anyone think that we could get him on the tour circuit again? I bet a few PerlMongers groups could organize a couple of lectures (hopefully better than our Chicago PM did) in your area. Look into it, you will be glad you did.
Thanks again Damien!!!
~Religion is O.K., as long as it gets you laid.
It is Amazing what a community can do when it pulls together and believe in something. I am glad to see this happen
Indeed it is. This in itself is part of the benefit that the Perl Community will gain from doing this, Damians undoubted good work notwithstanding, the realization that a community of like minded individuals with a common interest can achieve xomething that will benefit both themselves and others as yet unknown to them is in itself a good thing. The model that has been created here by YAS will begin to accrue benefits throughout the Open Source community, not simply limited to the Perl Programming language
I know that it is mildly entertaining, but please don't feed the trolls.
Do you even know anything about perl? -- AC Replying to Tom Christiansen post.
This guy is a legend! You should see half of the things he has done. He's got a great sense of humour too, so that makes him the best lecturer you can get over here. His PERL projects are as impressive as his lectures, and frequently as funny. This guy actually made a PERL program that took compiler error messages and turned them into Haikus, and another time he made a program that dynamically makes jokes based on the Abbot and Costello "Who's on first" routine...all in his spare time! From someone who messes around with everything from quantum computers to the laws of physics, you know you are getting a top program. Damien deserves all he can get and I hope he brings out some amazing stuff from it.
addi $v0, $0, 10 syscall
The first time was to point out the need for funding.
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
Ok, so blackstar runs mod_perl as part of the Apache goodness they've got going on. Thats not much of a reason to give such a large amount to a developer.
Does anyone have any details on why Blackstar should feel so endebted to Conway? I feel I must be missing something...
0daymeme.com: Great stuff.
Damian isn't just another perl hacker... Anybody who's read even part of his Object Oriented Perl book understands the kind of "Deep Magic" coding that this guy knows how to do. I'd say he's up there with Tom Christiansen and Randal Schwartz in his perl prowess. Of course this is every hackers dream. Getting paid to code GPL'd programs in your language of choice. I'm just glad that Damian gets to write a bunch more neat OO perl mods.
A musician without the RIAA, is like a fish without a bicycle.
Paranoid? :)
I remember a slashdot article on this subject, but I think the other article was just talking about Damian Conway needing sponsors; this one is talking about him getting sponsors. (or what not)
The more I think about it the more I wonder. Is every slashdot editor supposed to read every slashdot article ever writen to figure out if something has been posted before or not? That's a lot of work.
I saw somebody complain because he was pretty sure that an article was already posted about 2 years ago.. Hmmm.. ok? Like who's going to remember that? Sheesh.
-----------------------
Jeremy 'PeelBoy' Amberg
do they have to use perl to be generous? despite their motivations (not that it matters), it's truly a great gesture.
:)
anyways, let's say they donated this money simply to 'get famous' and make it to the front page of slashdot (!). who is to say that their advertising director didn't make a great decision.
complex
the man who put the BOP in the BOP-SHIBOP-SHIBOP
great comedy company.
Seeing all the posts so far I see the question "why is anyone giving him this money?" or "what does BlackStar have to do with this?". This by far is one of the coolest things that I have seen on slashdot for a couple of weeks. Maybe people have seen stuff like this before but I haven't and coming from a long line of either Givers (read corp.america.com) and Takers (fund.needy.nonprofit.org), this is rather refreshing.
To all of you who think they are giving TONS of money, this is a pittance. I have solicited $100k worth of computers off of Dell in the last week or 2 and am working on a donation from Viewsonic. This, not as a Devlopment director but an IT administrator for a non profit.
Yes they are sort of apples and oranges so one last more ontopic report is that from a developers side this will lead to a lot of creativity. Why? because he is already paid for this year and unless he is a lazy bastard, he will be like an artist on retainer, without having to accomplish something for what he is paid, but therefor coming up with possibly new and exciting.
just my 2 cents
And for those of you asking why we should care, remember, Slash is coded in Perl, so the better Perl gets, in theory, the easier it should be to make Slash better
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD