I love reading documentation for early-version software tools

[lehser]

Back before perl became such a big part of the web, the Perl book started out with several introductory chapters, all dedicated to Job (the Biblical character) and his resource-management problems.  So you got ways of writing small text-based databases, tracking children, camels, etc; there was the clay-tablet printer command, there were the pigeons carrying messages.  It was cute, well-done, and (relatively) memorable--I can't quite quote it verbatim any more, but the book has been out of date for nearly 10 years now.

Around perl 5, all that stuff vanished from the book.  Perl had become a Real Tool For the Masses, and I guess levity wasn't allowed anymore.


Luckily, the GWT isn't all that old yet.  From Add CSS Styling:

"Well, it turns out there's a special type of secondary style called a dependent style. Once you learn about dependent styles, young Padawan, you will understand."