[oak perl] v6

[Steve Fink]

Jon Seidel, CMC wrote:
> FYI, Sandy... I'm getting two copies of each of your messages recently.
> 
> V6 is a completely new version of Perl, with major grammatical and syntax
> changes to modernize the language and add major new features. I don't
> think it's related to Topaz at all.

Yep, that is the core difference. Chip Salzenberg's goal with Topaz was 
to reimplement the same language (Perl5) on a completely different core, 
using C++. He ran into major roadblocks when he reached some of the 
wackier bits of Perl's functionality, and Larry forbade him from 
changing the language (even though the changes were cleanups, they would 
have broken compatibility with some CPAN modules).

Perl6 only aims to achieve partial compatibility with Perl5 through 
compatibility layers, but is itself a very different language. For the 
most part, you can do things using almost exactly the same syntax and 
techniques as you would use in Perl5. But there are many newer ways of 
doing things (hopefully simpler in many cases, but certainly more 
powerful). Some of these ways are expected to eventually supplant the 
Perl5-style approaches.

But it is being implemented atop Parrot, a language-mostly-neutral 
virtual machine that will also be able to run Python, PHP, Tcl, etc. 
Neither Parrot's nor Perl6's code bases are related to Topaz. Parrot is 
in C; Perl6 is sort of in Perl6 rules. Theoretically they are informed 
by the Topaz experience, although as far as I can tell the main lessons 
were "it's too hard to reimplement Perl5 as it exists" and "you can find 
more open source hackers if you use C instead of C++". In general, the 
Parrot/Perl6 implementation has only done an "okay" job of learning from 
the projects and experience of others.