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1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | |
3 | [ Any text flagged as XXX needs to be processed before release. ] |
4 | |
5 | perldelta - what is new for perl v5.11.2 |
6 | |
7 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
8 | |
9 | This document describes differences between the 5.11.1 release and |
10 | the 5.11.2 release. |
11 | |
12 | =head1 Notice |
13 | |
14 | XXX Unlikely to need this section. |
15 | |
16 | =head1 Incompatible Changes |
17 | |
d83f38d8 |
18 | =head2 Use of C<:=> to mean an empty attribute list is now deprecated. |
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19 | |
d83f38d8 |
20 | An accident of Perl's parser means that these constructions are all equivalent: |
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21 | |
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22 | my $pi := 4; |
23 | my $pi : = 4; |
24 | my $pi : = 4; |
25 | |
26 | with the C<:> being treated as the start of an attribute list, which ends |
27 | before the C<=>. As whitespace is not significant here, all are parsed as an |
28 | empty attribute list, hence all the above are equivalent to, and better written |
29 | as |
30 | |
31 | my $pi = 4; |
32 | |
33 | because no attribute processing is done for an empty list. |
34 | |
35 | As is, this means that C<:=> cannot be used as a new token, without silently |
36 | changing the meaning of existing code. Hence that particular form is now |
37 | deprecated, and will become a syntax error. If it is absolutely necessary to |
38 | have empty attribute lists (for example, because of a code generator) the |
39 | avoid the warning by adding a space before the C<=>. |
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40 | |
41 | =head1 Core Enhancements |
42 | |
43 | XXX New core language features go here. Summarise user-visible core language |
44 | enhancements. Particularly prominent performance optimisations could go |
45 | here, but most should go in the L</Performance Enhancements> section. |
46 | |
97352077 |
47 | =head2 qr overloading |
48 | |
49 | It is now possible to overload the C<qr//> operator, that is, conversion |
50 | to regexp, like it was already possible to overload conversion to |
51 | boolean, string or number of objects. It is invoked when an object |
52 | appears on the right hand side of the C<=~> operator, or when it is |
53 | interpolated into a regexp. See L<overload>. |
54 | |
88e1f1a2 |
55 | =head2 Pluggable keywords |
56 | |
57 | Extension modules can now cleanly hook into the Perl parser to define new |
58 | kinds of keyword-headed expression and compound statement. The syntax |
59 | following the keyword is defined entirely by the extension. This allow |
60 | a completely non-Perl sublanguage to be parsed inline, with the right |
61 | ops cleanly generated. |
62 | |
63 | This feature is currently considered experimental, and using it to do |
64 | anything interesting is difficult. Many necessary supporting facilities, |
65 | such as the lexer and the pad system, can only be accessed through |
66 | unsupported internal interfaces. It is intended that the Perl 5.13 |
67 | development cycle will see the addition of clean, supported interfaces |
68 | for many of these functions. In Perl 5.12 most uses of pluggable keywords |
69 | will be via L<Devel::Declare>. |
70 | |
71 | See L<perlapi/PL_keyword_plugin> for the mechanism. The Perl core source |
72 | distribution also includes a new module L<XS::APItest::KeywordRPN>, which |
73 | implements reverse Polish notation arithmetic via pluggable keywords. |
74 | This module is mainly used for test purposes, and is not normally |
75 | installed, but also serves as an example of how to use the new mechanism. |
76 | |
f7461760 |
77 | =head2 Overridable function lookup |
78 | |
79 | Where an extension module hooks the creation of rv2cv ops, to modify |
80 | the subroutine lookup process, this now works correctly for bareword |
81 | subroutine calls. This means that prototypes on subroutines referenced |
82 | this way will be processed correctly. (Previously bareword subroutine |
83 | names were initially looked up, for parsing purposes, by an unhookable |
84 | mechanism, so extensions could only properly influence subroutine names |
85 | that appeared with an C<&> sigil.) |
86 | |
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87 | =head1 New Platforms |
88 | |
89 | XXX List any platforms that this version of perl compiles on, that previous |
90 | versions did not. These will either be enabled by new files in the F<hints/> |
91 | directories, or new subdirectories and F<README> files at the top level of the |
92 | source tree. |
93 | |
94 | =head1 Modules and Pragmata |
95 | |
96 | XXX All changes to installed files in F<cpan/>, F<dist/>, F<ext/> and F<lib/> |
97 | go here, in a list ordered by distribution name. Minimally it should be the |
98 | module version, but it's more useful to the end user to give a paragraph's |
99 | summary of the module's changes. In an ideal world, dual-life modules would |
100 | have a F<Changes> file that could be cribbed. |
101 | |
102 | =head2 New Modules and Pragmata |
103 | |
104 | =over 4 |
105 | |
106 | =item C<XXX> |
107 | |
108 | XXX |
109 | |
110 | =back |
111 | |
112 | =head2 Pragmata Changes |
113 | |
114 | =over 4 |
115 | |
116 | =item C<XXX> |
117 | |
118 | XXX |
119 | |
120 | =back |
121 | |
122 | =head2 Updated Modules |
123 | |
124 | =over 4 |
125 | |
126 | =item C<XXX> |
127 | |
128 | XXX |
129 | |
130 | =back |
131 | |
132 | =head1 Utility Changes |
133 | |
134 | XXX Changes to installed programs such as F<perlbug> and F<xsubpp> go |
135 | here. Most of these are built within the directories F<utils> and F<x2p>. |
136 | |
137 | =over 4 |
138 | |
139 | =item F<XXX> |
140 | |
141 | XXX |
142 | |
143 | =back |
144 | |
145 | =head1 New Documentation |
146 | |
147 | XXX Changes which create B<new> files in F<pod/> go here. |
148 | |
149 | =over 4 |
150 | |
151 | =item L<XXX> |
152 | |
153 | XXX |
154 | |
155 | =back |
156 | |
157 | =head1 Changes to Existing Documentation |
158 | |
159 | XXX Changes which significantly change existing files in F<pod/> go here. |
160 | Any changes to F<pod/perldiag.pod> should go in L</New or Changed Diagnostics>. |
161 | |
162 | |
163 | =head1 Performance Enhancements |
164 | |
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165 | =over 4 |
166 | |
167 | =item * |
168 | |
437d4214 |
169 | Reversing an array to itself (as in C<@a = reverse @a>) in void context now |
170 | happens in-place and is several orders of magnitude faster than it used to be. |
171 | It will also preserve non-existent elements whenever possible, i.e. for non |
172 | magical arrays or tied arrays with C<EXISTS> and C<DELETE> methods. |
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173 | |
174 | =back |
175 | |
176 | =head1 Installation and Configuration Improvements |
177 | |
178 | XXX Changes to F<Configure>, F<installperl>, F<installman>, and analogous tools |
179 | go here. |
180 | |
181 | =head2 Configuration improvements |
182 | |
183 | XXX |
184 | |
185 | =head2 Compilation improvements |
186 | |
187 | XXX |
188 | |
189 | =head2 Platform Specific Changes |
190 | |
191 | =over 4 |
192 | |
193 | =item XXX-some-platform |
194 | |
195 | XXX |
196 | |
197 | =back |
198 | |
199 | =head1 Selected Bug Fixes |
200 | |
201 | XXX Important bug fixes in the core language are summarised here. |
202 | Bug fixes in files in F<ext/> and F<lib/> are best summarised in |
203 | L</Modules and Pragmata>. |
204 | |
205 | =over 4 |
206 | |
207 | =item * |
208 | |
209 | XXX |
210 | |
211 | =back |
212 | |
213 | =head1 New or Changed Diagnostics |
214 | |
215 | XXX New or changed warnings emitted by the core's C<C> code go here. |
216 | |
217 | =over 4 |
218 | |
219 | =item C<XXX> |
220 | |
221 | XXX |
222 | |
223 | =back |
224 | |
225 | =head1 Changed Internals |
226 | |
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227 | =over 4 |
228 | |
229 | =item * |
230 | |
879d0c72 |
231 | C<Perl_pmflag> has been removed from the public API. Calling it now generates |
232 | a deprecation warning, and it will be removed in a future release. Although |
233 | listed as part of the API, it was never documented, and only ever used in |
234 | F<toke.c>, and prior to 5.10, F<regcomp.c>. In core, it has been replaced by a |
235 | static function. |
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236 | |
237 | =back |
238 | |
239 | =head1 New Tests |
240 | |
241 | XXX Changes which create B<new> files in F<t/> go here. Changes to |
242 | existing files in F<t/> aren't worth summarising, although the bugs that |
243 | they represent may be. |
244 | |
245 | =over 4 |
246 | |
247 | =item F<XXX> |
248 | |
249 | XXX |
250 | |
251 | =back |
252 | |
253 | =head1 Known Problems |
254 | |
255 | XXX Descriptions of platform agnostic bugs we know we can't fix go here. Any |
256 | tests that had to be C<TODO>ed for the release would be noted here, unless |
257 | they were specific to a particular platform (see below). |
258 | |
259 | This is a list of some significant unfixed bugs, which are regressions |
260 | from either 5.10.1 or 5.11.1. |
261 | |
262 | =over 4 |
263 | |
264 | =item * |
265 | |
266 | XXX |
267 | |
268 | =back |
269 | |
270 | =head1 Deprecations |
271 | |
272 | XXX Add any new known deprecations here. |
273 | |
274 | The following items are now deprecated. |
275 | |
276 | =over 4 |
277 | |
278 | =item * |
279 | |
280 | XXX |
281 | |
282 | =back |
283 | |
284 | =head1 Platform Specific Notes |
285 | |
286 | XXX Any changes specific to a particular platform. VMS and Win32 are the usual |
287 | stars here. It's probably best to group changes under the same section layout |
288 | as the main perldelta |
289 | |
290 | =head1 Obituary |
291 | |
292 | XXX If any significant core contributor has died, we've added a short obituary |
293 | here. |
294 | |
295 | =head1 Acknowledgements |
296 | |
297 | XXX The list of people to thank goes here. |
298 | |
299 | |
300 | =head1 Reporting Bugs |
301 | |
302 | If you find what you think is a bug, you might check the articles |
303 | recently posted to the comp.lang.perl.misc newsgroup and the perl |
304 | bug database at http://rt.perl.org/perlbug/ . There may also be |
305 | information at http://www.perl.org/ , the Perl Home Page. |
306 | |
307 | If you believe you have an unreported bug, please run the B<perlbug> |
308 | program included with your release. Be sure to trim your bug down |
309 | to a tiny but sufficient test case. Your bug report, along with the |
310 | output of C<perl -V>, will be sent off to perlbug@perl.org to be |
311 | analysed by the Perl porting team. |
312 | |
313 | If the bug you are reporting has security implications, which make it |
314 | inappropriate to send to a publicly archived mailing list, then please send |
315 | it to perl5-security-report@perl.org. This points to a closed subscription |
316 | unarchived mailing list, which includes all the core committers, who be able |
317 | to help assess the impact of issues, figure out a resolution, and help |
318 | co-ordinate the release of patches to mitigate or fix the problem across all |
319 | platforms on which Perl is supported. Please only use this address for |
320 | security issues in the Perl core, not for modules independently |
321 | distributed on CPAN. |
322 | |
323 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
324 | |
325 | The F<Changes> file for an explanation of how to view exhaustive details |
326 | on what changed. |
327 | |
328 | The F<INSTALL> file for how to build Perl. |
329 | |
330 | The F<README> file for general stuff. |
331 | |
332 | The F<Artistic> and F<Copying> files for copyright information. |
333 | |
334 | =cut |