Larry Wall facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Larry Wall
|
|
|---|---|
Wall in 2007
|
|
| Born |
Larry Arnold Wall
September 27, 1954 |
| Alma mater | Seattle Pacific University UC Berkeley |
| Occupation | Computer programmer, author |
| Known for | Perl, patch, Raku |
| Spouse(s) | Gloria Wall |
| Children | 4, including Aron |
Larry Arnold Wall was born on September 27, 1954. He is an American computer programmer, a person who writes computer code. He is most famous for creating the Perl programming language. He also made a useful computer tool called patch.
Contents
Larry Wall's Early Life and School
Larry Wall grew up in Los Angeles and Bremerton, Washington. In 1976, he started college at Seattle Pacific University. He first studied chemistry and music. Later, he changed his focus to pre-medicine.
After working for a few years at the university's computer center, he went back to school. He earned a degree in Natural and Artificial Languages. This degree focused on how languages work, both human and computer ones.
While in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, Larry and his wife studied linguistics. This is the science of language. They hoped to find a language in Africa that had no writing system. Their plan was to create a way to write it down. Then, they wanted to translate books, like the Bible, into that language. However, due to health reasons, they stayed in the United States. Larry then joined NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory after finishing school.
Larry Wall's Career and Creations
Larry Wall has created many important computer tools. He wrote `rn`, which was a program for reading online news groups called Usenet. He also made the very popular `patch` program. This tool helps computer programmers update software by showing changes between different versions.
Larry has won the International Obfuscated C Code Contest twice. This contest challenges programmers to write code that is hard to understand but still works. In 1998, he received the first Free Software Foundation Award for the Advancement of Free Software. This award honors people who help make software freely available for everyone.
Larry developed the Perl language and its interpreter while working for System Development Corporation. This company later became part of Unisys. He also helped write Programming Perl, which is often called the Camel Book. This book is a key guide for people who program in Perl. He also edited the Perl Cookbook. Later, he worked full-time for O'Reilly Media. There, he continued to develop Perl and write more books about it.
Larry's background in linguistics shows in his work. He often compares Perl to a natural language, like English or Spanish. He uses ideas from language studies to explain how he designed Perl. For example, he sometimes calls computer terms like "variable" a "noun". He might call a "function" a "verb".
Larry Wall's Personal Life and Faith
Larry Wall is an active member of the New Life, Church of the Nazarene. He also helps his local church with Bible quizzing. This is a fun activity where kids learn and answer questions about the Bible.
Larry's Christian faith has influenced some of the words used in Perl. The name "Perl" itself comes from a Bible story about a "pearl of great price" (Matthew 13:46). Other examples include the function name bless. Also, the design documents for Raku (which used to be called Perl 6) have names like apocalypse and exegesis. Larry has also talked about his faith at computer conferences.
See also
- List of computer scientists
- List of programmers
- Timeline of programming languages
