Perl is frequently described as the swiss army chainsaw, and the ever-present handy-dandy roll of duct tape. I've now come to the conclusion that these represent the duality of Perl.
On a good day, in the hands of a skilled craftsperson, Perl can create great things. It starts with the chainsaw to fell a tree, and ends with the chisels and routers needed to create delicate and intricate carvings on the legs of a table.
On a less auspicious day, in the hands of a harried craftsperson or a less skilled practitioner, Perl can be used as duct tape to hold a few two-by-fours on to a piece of panelling to create a table. Functional, but not as asthetically pleasing to be sure.
It's good that Perl can be used for solutions at both ends of the spectrum. But sometimes that table sitting in the corner held together with duct tape looks pretty darn ugly. And sometimes duct tape loses it's stickiness, and the table falls apart after months or years of use.
Time to clean up some more duct tape...
We also had the odd habit of saving all of the used tape after a show, and collecting it into one great ball. After a dozen shows, we'd have something the size of a human head. It's amazing how a few pieces here and there over a couple of weeks adds up.
I don't know if that ruins your metaphor or not, but my motto is cruft accumulates. Roll on refactoring browser!
