So please don't think I have a 'down' on the MVS people. I'm just pulling off their arms to beat other people over the head with.

Over the long term, symbiosis is more useful than parasitism. More fun, too. Ask any mitochondria.

What about writing it first and rationalizing it afterwards?

Yes, but I did manage to increase the amount of virginity in the world by that method.

Life gets boring, someone invents another necessity, and once again we turn the crank on the screwjack of progress hoping that nobody gets screwed.

Perl is worse than Python because people wanted it worse.

I've had to learn kind of sense when the questions would be coming and be ready to handle them. There's a lot of education and reiteration that happens on these online channels and sometimes it's tempting to just say, "Well, just go and read the documentation," but you know, people appreciate being led along and taught and mentored.