use Perl

An overwhelming feeling of restlessness has come over me. My intense hubris has returned, telling me that I need to find a "real programming job," that I'm wasting away here, surrounded by mediocrity. What a bunch of crap.

Although my hubris is persistent, and let me tell you, it's intense, I can't figure out why I'm restless. I'm in a place that is giving me a ton of freedom and training. I learn new things almost daily (which isn't saying much, since I don't know much). I can pretty much chart my own course.

I guess I just feel like there is no one else around me who is as interested (OK, sometimes obsessed) with programming as I am. The books I've read lately have been awesome, and there are a dozen more waiting in the wings. I get so excited about what I'm reading, but I don't feel like there's anyone who shares that excitement as I do.

I just finished Perl for System Administration and I am currently in the midst of The Psychology of Computer Programming. I can't decide what to read next, The Design of Everyday Things, Programming Applications for Netscape Servers, or Practical UNIX and Internet Security.

I guess this restlessness stems from this undying desire inside me to catch up, to learn more, to make up for all the years I wasn't programming. I wonder if I'll ever feel like I've officially caught up. Probably not.

I continue to thank Jesus for the day that I was first introduced to Perl, the glue language. In my most recent project, my brother and I are using Flash and Perl together to make Multiplayer Flash environments. It's a ton of fun.

I'm drawing up some preliminary designs for a generic, reusable Perl CGI script that performs some standard multiplayer events in Flash.

After hearing of upcoming layoffs at my place of work, I put together a resume page. While I was writing it up, I became concerned that my level of web development expertise was not being accurately portrayed.

I went to Brainbench to take some tests and (hopefully) prove myself a bit more worthy than my experience and (lack of) technichal education reflect.

I was surprised and very happy at the outcomes. I received their Master Certification in Perl, JavaScript and HTML. My Perl score was in the top 98%!

I like Perl.

It has been almost 11 months since I first opened the camel book. The following are a few things I like about Perl right now.

Perl...

• ...quickly secured me a job when my former employer (an Internet startup) went under.
• ...has given me the tools to write CGI and sysadmin scripts that (hopefully) make people's lives (my own included) just a bit easier.
• ...showed me that someone like Larry Wall exists, giving me that rare opportunity to have a man I can look at and say, "I want to be like him."
• ...introduced me to programming and, at least for now, programming is what I love to do.