Perl FAQ 1.7: What's the difference between ``perl'' and ``Perl''?

Perl FAQ 1.7

What's the difference between ``perl'' and ``Perl''?

    32!  [ ord('p') - ord('P') ]
    

Larry now uses ``Perl'' to signify the language proper and ``perl'' the implementation of it, i.e. the current interpreter. Hence Tom's quip that ``Nothing but perl can parse Perl.''

On the other hand, the aesthetic value of casewise parallelism in ``awk'', ``sed'', and ``perl'' as much require the lower-case version as ``C'', ``Pascal'', and ``Perl'' require the upper-case version. It's also easier to type ``Perl'' in typeset print than to be constantly switching in Courier. :-)

In other words, it doesn't matter much, especially if all you're doing is hearing someone talk about the language; case is hard to distinguish aurally.


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