Hi, This is an idea that originated in #perl6 during a discussion with slavik ( http://irclog.perlgeek.de/perl6/2010-01-17#i_1907093). The goal is to allow Perl 6 source code to be written in natural languages other than English. The motivation would be to make programming accessible to a lot of people who don't know English well (or at all), to make it easier to teach programming to kids in non-English speaking countries, and just plain fun.
Currently, since Perl 6 (afaik) supports Unicode identifiers, the only place a modification is required would be in the keywords. However, it is not a simple matter of substituting s/keyword/local_language_keyword/ since the resultant phrasing might be awkward or meaningless and unreadable (examples in the linked discussion). It requires reordering the syntax of each construct. Is it possible to do this at a module level? If so, how much English usage would that require before someone could start programming in their own language - say, two, for a shebang line and a "use Lang::<Language>" line? or zero, by using "perl6 -MLang::<Language>" in the command line? Are there any ongoing works in this vein? Sincerely, Sundar -- ! Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. http://www.google.com/profiles/sundaryourfriend
