1w ago

British Perl guru Matt Trout dead at 42

www.theregister.com /2025/07/11/matt_trout_dies_at_42/

6 comments

People mention his bluntness, even rudeness; his propensity for swearing; his intolerance of fools and stupid questions, and blistering responses thereto; his fondness for good beer, apparently in large amounts, and his consequent antipathy for early mornings; his passion for the things he cared about, which often could spill over into anger… and his subsequent regret and apologies. I've done much the same, and had similar written about me.
And he was from Lancaster!? Next you'll tell me there's water at the bottom of the ocean ...
Perl was once described as "the swiss army chainsaw of scripting languages." For a second I thought they meant Larry Wall. I associate Matt Trout more with his libraries and the Catalyst framework. Definitely a Perl guru tho. RIP, buddy.
how the hell did a Perl guru younger than me come to exist? I'd have figured they're all 50+ bare minimum.
- Matt started young. Only a few years before I started in earnest. We were all kids in our 20s when I got to know Matt. I think everyone I knew back in the day must be at least 40 at this point. Before the community evaporated and the world moved on, a lot of cool shit was built in Perl and our community was pretty welcoming. Even to 18-25-somethings with more technical skill than sense. Such a wild time to look back on. So now you can say "how can there be at least two JAPHs younger than me" 😉
  
  That's cool to hear :)
  I think the last big Perl app which I regularly dealt with (and was aware of it as such) was the supporting software for the Squeezebox music players.
- Matt was complicated. He had high standards for his craft and was very abrasive if he felt you didn't live up to them. Multiple instances he rubbed people the wrong way and would sincerely apologize. He wasn't malicious, just had no filter. The world is not better with his absence. Dude was brilliant and it is a damn shame he died so young.
  This article though, is pretty lame. Author half hears about some Perl developer dying and writes an article about how he would have vibed with him. Would it have hurt to actually to have done some research for an obit? You didn't need to use my friend's death as an excuse for an article just because you had a deadline.

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