Bringing Perl to a Younger Generation

Perl is now almost 25 years old.  Some of us have been using Perl for almost all that time.  Many of us have been using Perl for a sizable fraction of that time.  And the reason we have been doing so is because we believe that in those cases it is the best tool for the job, however we define "best".

In order for Perl to remain viable it requires a critical mass of users, and that requires involving people who are younger than the language itself.

One way that we have tried to do that is by taking part in the Google Code-In for the last few years.  This is a programme aimed at introducing students between the ages of 13 and 17 to open source software.  I'd like to talk about some of our experiences running GCI and my son, Wesley, will talk about participating in GCI.  He will also discuss some of the things which work and which don't work when attempting to attract a younger generation of programmers.


I have been using Perl for longer than I care to remember and I'm currently working on a grant to improve Devel::Cover, the Perl code coverage module.

Wesley is half way through his "A" level studies, which include a Computing course.


I'd like to give this talk along with my son, Wesley Johnson.  (http://act.yapc.eu/ye2012/user/7153)