Author: allison Date: Tue Oct 7 08:04:35 2008 New Revision: 31755 Modified: trunk/docs/pdds/draft/pdd01_overview.pod
Log: [pdd] New introduction for Overview PDD. Modified: trunk/docs/pdds/draft/pdd01_overview.pod ============================================================================== --- trunk/docs/pdds/draft/pdd01_overview.pod (original) +++ trunk/docs/pdds/draft/pdd01_overview.pod Tue Oct 7 08:04:35 2008 @@ -3,11 +3,11 @@ =head1 NAME -docs/pdds/pdd01_overview.pod - A high-level overview of the Parrot system +docs/pdds/pdd01_overview.pod - A high-level overview of Parrot =head1 ABSTRACT -A high-level overview of the Parrot system. +A high-level overview of the Parrot virtual machine. =head1 VERSION @@ -15,23 +15,15 @@ =head1 DESCRIPTION -The following diagram gives a rough outline of the architecture of -Parrot and the relationship between its major components, ranging from -the components closest to the high-level languages targeting Parrot, -down to those closest to the operating system. - - +---------------------------------------------------+ - | Parser Grammar Engine (PGE) | - +---------------------------------------------------+ - | Tree Grammar Engine (TGE) | - +-------------------------+-------------------------+ - | PASM | PIR | - | (assembly language) | (intermediate language) | - +-------------------------+-------------------------+ - | Parrot Interpreter (IMCC) | - +---------------------------------------------------+ - | Extensions | - +---------------------------------------------------+ +Parrot is a virtual machine for dynamic languages like Python, PHP, Ruby, and +Perl. A dynamic language is one that allows things like extension of the code +base, subroutine and class definition, and altering the type system at +runtime. Static languages like Java or C# restrict these features to compile +time. If this sounds like an edgy idea, keep in mind that Lisp, one of the +prime examples of a dynamic language, has been around since 1958. The basic +paradigm shift to dynamic languages leads the way to other more advanced +dynamic features like higher-order functions, closures, continuations, and +coroutines. =head1 IMPLEMENTATION
