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SYMBOLS_FOR_PERL
February 18, 2015
Periodically a need arises for me to
create something like a flyer or website
for something perl related, and I start
thinking about what kind of imagery one
might use to represent perl.
This is a field that strikes me as a rats
nest of thorny problems-- and it doesn't
help that there's always some other geek
chiming in who doesn't see the problems,
and acts like I'm just making it up.
Take it from the beginning:
The original O'Reilley book for
"Programming Perl" used a detailed
line drawing of a Camel, back when the
animals they chose made a certain This series of classic
degree of sense as concrete symbols of animal drawings they used
software tools: here, perl is seen as was a really brilliant
ungainly, but immensely practical, and "branding" maneuver...
often the only good way to travel if I remember correctly,
across difficult territory. Further, the original drawings they
Larry Wall is a Christian, who liked used were 19th century
the biblical associations. illustrations that were
out of copyright.
But this association between perl
and camels is claimed by O'Reilley Legally unencumbered and
as a trademark. cheap: extremely useful
for young, struggling
They explicitly allow a small non-profit projects.
venture like a user's group to use
the camel, which means my fellow members
of "SF Perl Mongers" often can't I've often idly thought
see why I'd have any reluctance to using about what alternate
it for things related to the group... strategy you might use
for the appearance of a
(By the way: the *.pm extension is used competing line of
for perl modules, so calling perl users technical books.
groups "perl mongers" means the initials
look like the name of a module: sf.pm. One of my better ideas,
Welcome to nerd humor.) I thought, was to
invent a "coat of arms"
The Perl Foundation, on the for each technology.
other hand did see some
problems with using a perl
symbol owned by a company,
and so decided to invent
their own: the round cross-
section of an onion.
(You see, it's an annual
tradition for Larry Wall to
deliver a talk which he calls
"The State of the Onion"...
like I said, nerd humor.)
They then went and trademarked their
Onion logo. The terms of use of this
logo are very liberal, and it's certainly
acceptable for a small, non-profit users
group to use it, which means that many
of my fellow Perl Mongers don't see why
I would have a problem with it...
If you were, for example, running a for
profit, perl consulting firm, you would not
be allowed to use either camel or onion to
promote it. Clearly it would be *useful*
for some purposes if there were a legally
unencumbered, easily recognized logo for perl.
And even when camel or onion is allowed for
the present purpose at hand, like promoting
a Perl Mongers group, I personally have a
problem with using them-- using either of them
as a standard logo helps to promote them as
a standard logo, and I would much rather put
my efforts into promoting a freely available
image.
Note: I don't actually know if it's
legally possible to have an unencumbered
logo. Is there anyway to prevent someone
else from trademarking a logo if it's not
already protected as a trademark?
It might be a practical necessity to have
someone "own" the trademark-- perhaps a
trustworthy agency like the Free Software
Foundation that would then use some form of
copyleft to simulate an unencumbered logo.
In any case, I made my own attempt, which I
provisionally "liscenced" simply by explaining
I wanted it as freely available as legally possible.
I ran with my old "coat of arms" idea, using
three of the more prominent "sigils" in perl:
$ @ % (which indicate scalar, array and hash SIGILS_OF_POWER
variables, respectively.
http://obsidianrook.com/sfpm/logo/
There were problems with this idea, but I just
ran with it anyway.
The biggest problem, I think, is that there's
a huge difference in associations that a
"coat of arms" has for different people.
For me a "coat of arms" is a completely archaic
symbol, and the association with medieval knights is
entirely in the realm of goofy kids adventure stories.
I take it as a given that we all understand that
actual knights were often involved in many dubious
affairs, and in particular "The Crusades" seem to
be some combination of stupid and evil, a weird
collective insanity-- relgious wars that could hardly
make sense to any real follower of Jesus Christ.
In the intervening years since I thought of the "coat of
arms" notion, we got the Bush Junior regime's invasion of
Iraq, and the notion of a Crusade suddenly had currency
again, it stopped seeming like quite such a historical
curiosity. A coat of arms may carry a hint of suspicion
about it-- is it some sort of veiled reference?
So, 'tis back to the drawing board again
for the true symbol of Free Perl...
I still have quite a few buttons made
up with the coat of arms logo, however,
if anyone wants one.
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