Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
NOTE: use Perl; is on undef hiatus. You can read content, but you can't post it. More info will be forthcoming forthcomingly.

All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

use Perl Log In

Log In

[ Create a new account ]

Matts (1087)

Matts
  (email not shown publicly)
I work for MessageLabs [messagelabs.com] in Toronto, ON, Canada. I write spam filters, MTA software, high performance network software, string matching algorithms, and other cool stuff mostly in Perl and C.

Journal of Matts (1087)

Monday August 20, 2007
09:20 PM

I sometimes wonder what I've contributed...

[ #34164 ]

Being an open source geek is an interesting position to be in. You can hack on bizarre stuff that barely anyone uses (like Net::IMAP::Simple::NB) or you can hack on stuff that people use but you rarely hear about (like CDB_File, which I didn't create but at least I maintain it).

But then there's the "other" stuff. The things you randomly hear about people installing as "essential" tools, like XML::XPath, or more commonly lately DBD::SQLite.

What's odd about DBD::SQLite is that it has now become a staple of so many tiny little applications (most recently I read about some hack of reddit that someone had done) that if it suddenly went away it would be like perl going away. And that both gives me a wonderful sense of joy (for helping those people) and a terrible sense of dread (because what if I got it wrong somehow?). Such is the way of free software I guess...


List all Journal entries
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

I sometimes wonder what I've contributed... 8 Comments More | Login | Reply /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More | Login | Reply
Loading... please wait.
  • I sometimes find it funny that the modules I get the most feedback on, and that people love the most, are the ones that involved the least effort.

    I get more feedback on Config::Tiny than the rest of my modules combined :)
  • Thank you SO much for DBD::SQLite, it's become utterly essential for me now (and it's going into other small apps soon too).

    (And please don't make it every go away) :)
    • DBD::SQLite++ (well, except for 1.13) :-)

      Aside from using it for applications, the sheer amount of things on CPAN that couldn't be tested, or tested easily without it is probably quite large.

      I know Handel/Mango would have worthless tests if it weren't for DBD::SQLite...cuz lord knows I'd never install a real DB just for testing most of that stuff.

      • DBD::Mock?

        • Not really. I'm not interested in what statements [syntax] were run or what params were bound..that's DBIx::Class' job. I simply want to check that if I told DBIC to delete, it deleted. I'm really testing my interaction with DBIC and comparing it the to real db data itself, not checking that certain statements/binding happened.
  • Smolder loves DBD::SQLite. Thanks!

  • And that both gives me a wonderful sense of joy (for helping those people) and a terrible sense of dread (because what if I got it wrong somehow?).
    Well, you should consider it well tested now... So you should have more confidence in it now, than for CDB_File.
    • He means the ZOMGIBROKECPAN effect, where something stupid causes a ripple effect downstream.
Stories, comments, journals, and other submissions on use Perl; are Copyright 1998-2006, their respective owners.