* Dan Sugalski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [05/11/2001 07:19]:
> > >
> > > I think you're in violent agreement here. This has been declared a
> > > goal of Perl 6 from almost day one.
> >
> >Ok, fair enough, but until just a little bit ago I was hearing stuff different
> >from Dan. That has been changed, apparently recently, so I guess we are in
> >violent agreement.
>
> Yep. Dan *still* doesn't like the idea, and I really don't want to have to
> deal with the extra code that's inevitably involved, the complexity in the
> parser to correctly identify perl 5 or perl 6 code, or with the errors and
> compatibility problems that'll crop up. I'd much rather we had a standalone
> utility that plugged into perl 5 somehow and leave perl 5 completely out of
> the perl 6 core. (Heck, out of the perl 6 distribution) Given what Larry's
> break^Wchanging, though, I don't think it's feasable. :(
Well, I think we should take a step back and answer a few key questions:
1. Do we want to be able to use Perl 5 modules in a
Perl 6 program (without conversion)?
2. Do we want to be able to switch between Perl 5 and
Perl 6 in a single file (by using "module" to dictate
P6 and "package" P5)?
3. Do we want to assume Perl 5 or Perl 6 code? If we
assume P5, then we have to look for "module" somewhere.
If we assume P6, we can look for a number of differences,
such as $foo[1], $foo{bar}, etc to identify P5 code.
4. Do we want to be able claim 100% compatibility, or
"99% except typeglobs", in which case if *foo is
seen we just drop with "Typeglobs not supported"?
The more we answer "yes" then the more complex it is. ;-)
-Nate
