Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Wall notes Perl is written in Perl and leaves translating it to C as an exercise for the reader.
In plain terms
He points out Perl’s self‑implementation and challenges readers to port it to C.
What can you take from it?
Understanding a language’s internals can be a learning project.

Where it applies

  • studying interpreter design
  • educational coding exercises

Putting it to work

  • read Perl source
  • attempt C translation

Questions to consider

  • What benefits come from re‑implementing a language?
  • When is such a project worth the effort?

Another view

Translating a complex interpreter to C is non‑trivial and may be impractical.

More from Larry Wall

  1. I'm sure that that could be indented more readably, but I'm scared of the awk parser.

    Permalink to quote #11

  2. It's all magic. :-)

    Permalink to quote #13

  3. I know it's weird, but it does make it easier to write poetry in perl. :-)

    Permalink to quote #10

Related quotes

  1. Too often critics seem more intent on seeking new ways to alter Congress than to truly learn how it functions. They might well profit from the advice of Thomas…

    Gerald FordGerald Ford quote #1

  2. When it came to formal classes, I was a slacker. But I've always been a diligent autodidact and can teach myself virtually any subject - if I have a serious in…

    Dean R. KoontzDean R. Koontz quote #1

  3. I have three masters: Nature, Velazquez and Rembrandt.

    Francisco GoyaFrancisco Goya quote #1