Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible"

E887839

programming language design principle software development motto

The Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible" encapsulates the language’s philosophy of making common programming tasks straightforward while still empowering developers to tackle complex problems flexibly.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Perl design philosophy	1
Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible" canonical	1
Perl usability goals	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T10826622 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible"
Context triple: [TIMTOWTDI, oftenMentionedWith, Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible"]

A. Keep It Simple, Stupid
Keep It Simple, Stupid is a design and problem-solving principle that emphasizes minimalism, clarity, and avoiding unnecessary complexity.
B. Epigrams on Programming
Epigrams on Programming is a celebrated collection of witty, aphoristic observations about software development and computer science authored by Alan Perlis.
C. Linus’s Law
Linus’s Law is the open-source software development principle that “given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow,” emphasizing the power of many reviewers to quickly find and fix defects.
D. Beefy
Beefy is the famous nickname of Sir Ian Botham, the legendary English all-round cricketer renowned for his powerful batting and match-winning performances.
E. TIMTOWTDI
TIMTOWTDI is a Perl programming philosophy acronym meaning “There Is More Than One Way To Do It,” emphasizing flexibility and multiple valid approaches to solving problems.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible"
Target entity description: The Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible" encapsulates the language’s philosophy of making common programming tasks straightforward while still empowering developers to tackle complex problems flexibly.

A. Keep It Simple, Stupid
Keep It Simple, Stupid is a design and problem-solving principle that emphasizes minimalism, clarity, and avoiding unnecessary complexity.
B. Epigrams on Programming
Epigrams on Programming is a celebrated collection of witty, aphoristic observations about software development and computer science authored by Alan Perlis.
C. Linus’s Law
Linus’s Law is the open-source software development principle that “given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow,” emphasizing the power of many reviewers to quickly find and fix defects.
D. Beefy
Beefy is the famous nickname of Sir Ian Botham, the legendary English all-round cricketer renowned for his powerful batting and match-winning performances.
E. TIMTOWTDI
TIMTOWTDI is a Perl programming philosophy acronym meaning “There Is More Than One Way To Do It,” emphasizing flexibility and multiple valid approaches to solving problems.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (35)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	programming language design principle ⓘ software development motto ⓘ
appliesTo	system administration scripts ⓘ text processing tasks ⓘ web development with Perl ⓘ
associatedWith	Perl ⓘ Perl programming language ⓘ linked to: Perl
audience	Perl programmers ⓘ prospective Perl users ⓘ
captures	balance between simplicity and power in Perl ⓘ
category	programming language slogan ⓘ software engineering slogan ⓘ
contrastsWith	minimalist language design philosophies ⓘ
describes	Perl design philosophy ⓘ linked to: Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible" Perl usability goals ⓘ linked to: Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible"
emphasizes	flexibility for developers ⓘ making common tasks straightforward ⓘ pragmatic programming ⓘ support for complex tasks ⓘ
goal	to allow complex systems programming when needed ⓘ to make simple scripts easy to write ⓘ
influences	Perl feature design ⓘ Perl library ecosystem ⓘ linked to: CPAN
language	English ⓘ
reflects	Perl focus on practicality over purity ⓘ Perl goal of high expressiveness ⓘ Perl goal of low barrier to entry ⓘ Perl philosophy of TIMTOWTDI ⓘ
relatedConcept	developer empowerment ⓘ expressive syntax ⓘ language ergonomics ⓘ
usedBy	Perl community ⓘ
usedIn	Perl advocacy ⓘ Perl documentation ⓘ talks about Perl ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

TIMTOWTDI → oftenMentionedWith → Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible" ⓘ

Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible" → describes → Perl design philosophy ⓘ

linked to: Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible"

Perl motto "Easy things should be easy, hard things should be possible" → describes → Perl usability goals ⓘ