You can never entirely stop being what you once were. That's why it's important to be the right person today, and not put it off till tomorrow.

I think computer science, by and large, is still stuck in the Modern age.

Perl was designed to work more like a natural language. It's a little more complicated but there are more shortcuts, and once you learned the language, it's more expressive.

A good messenger expects to get shot.

I'm definitely a night owl. I get going about the time my wife crashes and goes to bed. And in some sense, I've had to learn to be more of a cat napper in recent years because Perl development, Perl design and development, has become a worldwide phenomenon - not just mailing lists, but RSC channels, Twitter even. This all happens 24 hours a day. And people come up with questions at any time of the day or night.

But you have to allow a little for the desire to evangelize when you think you have good news.

You know, I've got my hands in 30 or 40 different pots simultaneously and so I have a little bit of all of that where I work.