Apocalypse 12 From Larry Wall

rheum101 writes "Larry Wall just released the eagerly anticipated Apocalypse12 . detailing Perl6 OO in all it glories. To quote the author -> 'One other note: if you haven't read the previous Apocalypses and Exegeses, a lot of this is going to be complete gobbledygook to you. (Of course, even if you have read them, this might still be gobbledygook. You take your chances in life...).'"

Comments

Looks like progress to me

[moof1138]

I have a lot of Perl code out there that is probably going to take a while to port, but I have to say that a lot of the changes here really do make me sigh in relief. Lots of what Larry was going over here are the bits I am looking forward to in Perl 6. I use OOPerl, but never have really liked it. The object system will finally make a lot more sense, and be a lot more intuitive for those coming from other OO languages. The fact that we will real classes instead of magic packages, we get to use the keywords 'class' and 'method' rather than 'package' and 'sub', we se dots to dereference objects instead of ->, and so on are nice. There still are a lot of the clever perlisms left over, and there are a lot of cool looking innovations in perl 6, and I am happy with that.

Over all I am really excited about Perl 6. I know it will take a lot of relearning, and some code is going to be a bitch to update, but porting isn't necessarily required unless there is a compelling reason to move to 6, and the more I read about the cleaner approaches to old problems in Perl 6 the more I like it. I also expect many of the changes should help raise Perl above some of the criticisms of language snobs.

Dot verus arrow

[JusTyler]

The use of arrow where most of the rest of the world uses dot was confusing.

Perl has always done things in a way that someone thought was 'right' when they coded it, and which isn't necessarily based on standards. I would contest that everyone else was doing it wrong here, and that the arrow makes way more sense, as it implies hierarchy, whereas a dot does not.

Re:Dot verus arrow

[chromatic]

True, the arrow does have a nice visual effect. Of course, it's also two characters compared to one -- and it's nice to make common things short and sweet.

Re:Perl6 is a mistake

[Anonymous Coward]

ruby? Python? Kid's toys.

Common Lisp. Enough Said. Okay maybe Scheme, if you're a bit of a masochist...

It does bode *very* well for Perl 6

[Pan T. Hose]

Aha! So even Larry Wall admits Perl is all "gobbledygook"! This does not bode well for Perl 6.

As a matter of fact, it does bode well for Perl 6. Even very well, I might add. As Larry Wall has said in his famous State of the Onion speech on TPC4: "Perl 5 was my rewrite of Perl. I want Perl 6 to be the community's rewrite of Perl and of the community." Also, please let me quote the first Apocalypse: "What I will be revealing in these columns will be the design of Perl 6. Or more accurately, the beginnings of that design, since the design process will certainly continue after I've had my initial say in the matter. I'm not omniscient, rumors to the contrary notwithstanding. This job of playing God is a little too big for me. Nevertheless, someone has to do it, so I'll try my best to fake it. And I'll expect all of you to help me out with the process of creating history. We all have to do our bit with free will." Now, I can assure you that those four years were not wasted as you seem to imply. I think Larry Wall has used the right words on OSCON 2003:

• We the unwilling,
• led by the unknowing,
• are doing the impossible
• for the ungrateful.
• We have done so much for so long with so little
• We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

How true...