Welcome to the weekly series “Meet The Champion”.

Last week we spoke to Roger Bell_West, the winner of Perl Weekly Challenge - 026.

Today we are talking to the Perl Weekly Challenge - 027 winner Scimon Proctor. I hope you are going to enjoy the interview.

Mohammad: Tell us about your technical background?

Scimon: I’ve been in love with computers since seeing Visicalc do magic stuff with numbers sometime in the 70’s. I spent a lot of my youth writing games on a BBC B then Sinclair QL, Spectrum and Amiga (in that very weird order). I did study Computer Science at University but dropped out for a number of reasons (money being one). But I’ve always just been good with computers I guess.

Mohammad: How/When did you start using Perl/Raku?

Scimon: After the said dropping out I did a few things. Started a game shop (Black Lion Games in Edinburgh, still going strong with my old business partner doing a great job), worked for a bank and then later worked in a book store. I ended up running the computer books department and also managing the back end systems they had. It was here I read “Learning Perl 5” (this would be 2001 I guess). I fell in love, Perl5 just spoke to me on some level. It was high enough level to get things done but still powerful. I loved it.

It’s only been a few years that I’ve been using Perl6. I was very interested in it when it was first being worked on but fell off keeping up with it. When I was coming close to the first stable release (the Christmas release) I got interested again and started looking into it. I got the same feeling of it being a language I just resonate with. It’s a bit hard to explain I guess but it just feels right. It’s not perfect but nothing is, and it’s extendibility does mean that you can make it what you want when solving problems.

Mohammad: How did you come to know about “Perl Weekly Challenge”?

Scimon: I think I was at the talk when you first announced it and it sounded fun.

Mohammad: What do you like the most about “Perl Weekly Challenge”?

Scimon: I like the challenge and the chance to think about different things. I’ve generally found myself only doing it in Perl6 since the first few as I find that more fun.

Mohammad: Is there any thing you would like to change?

Scimon: Nope. It’s awesome. Keep it up.

Mohammad: How much time you dedicate every week to “Perl Weekly Challenge”?

Scimon: Generally only a few hours. It depends on the problem. Some of them can be quite quick to solve. Others are real pain. It often depends on my mental state, sometimes I’m just not up for it. But I’ll usually get something done by the end of the week.

Mohammad: Do you checkout others solutions and who is your favourite?

Scimon: Occasionally. I find Laurent Rosenfeld‘s write up’s interesting and Joelle Maslak‘s solutions often teach me something new. But there are so many brilliant people doing the challlenge now that’s it’s hard to keep track.

Mohammad: What do you suggest someone just started the weekly challenge?

Scimon: Relax. Enjoy. Don’t stress it’s just for fun. Try and learn new thing. And if you’re not doing Perl6 why not? ;)

Mohammad: Do you find the website user friendly? What do you like most?

Scimon: It’s great. The charts are fun.

Mohammad: Anything else you would to like share with us?

Scimon: In a world where everything is more than a bit nuts having a chance to relax and think about a fun puzzle should not be missed. Enjoy yourselves and stay safe.

That brings the end of the conversation with Scimon Proctor. Please do let us know your view. We will come back next week with another champion.