X-Git-Url: http://git.shadowcat.co.uk/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=pod%2Fperlfaq1.pod;h=0284e76f882fea4240b4334d6aabb0543fcfdcac;hb=c23d1eb0e18a49361001d26c686323d50b0c6d21;hp=5ca94c99f07a029414bac4996fb8ce4e491950dc;hpb=f05bbc4047b4e519eb0edbaf2fce2004f4838d1a;p=p5sagit%2Fp5-mst-13.2.git diff --git a/pod/perlfaq1.pod b/pod/perlfaq1.pod index 5ca94c9..0284e76 100644 --- a/pod/perlfaq1.pod +++ b/pod/perlfaq1.pod @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ =head1 NAME -perlfaq1 - General Questions About Perl ($Revision: 1.8 $, $Date: 2002/04/07 18:46:13 $) +perlfaq1 - General Questions About Perl ($Revision: 1.12 $, $Date: 2003/07/09 15:47:28 $) =head1 DESCRIPTION @@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/ and http://archive.develooper.com/perl5-porters@perl.org/ or the news gateway nntp://nntp.perl.org/perl.perl5.porters or its web interface at http://nntp.perl.org/group/perl.perl5.porters , -or read the faq at http://perlhacker.org/p5p-faq , +or read the faq at http://simon-cozens.org/writings/p5p-faq , or you can subscribe to the mailing list by sending perl5-porters-request@perl.org a subscription request (an empty message with no subject is fine). @@ -59,14 +59,15 @@ users the informal support will more than suffice. See the answer to You should definitely use version 5. Version 4 is old, limited, and no longer maintained; its last patch (4.036) was in 1992, long ago and far away. Sure, it's stable, but so is anything that's dead; in fact, -perl4 had been called a dead, flea-bitten camel carcass. The most recent -production release is 5.6 (although 5.005_03 is still supported). -The most cutting-edge development release is 5.7. Further references -to the Perl language in this document refer to the production release -unless otherwise specified. There may be one or more official bug fixes -by the time you read this, and also perhaps some experimental versions -on the way to the next release. All releases prior to 5.004 were subject -to buffer overruns, a grave security issue. +perl4 had been called a dead, flea-bitten camel carcass. The most +recent production release is 5.8.0 (although 5.005_03 and 5.6.1 are +still supported). The most cutting-edge development release is 5.9. +Further references to the Perl language in this document refer to the +production release unless otherwise specified. There may be one or +more official bug fixes by the time you read this, and also perhaps +some experimental versions on the way to the next release. +All releases prior to 5.004 were subject to buffer overruns, a grave +security issue. =head2 What are perl4 and perl5? @@ -82,7 +83,7 @@ The 5.0 release is, essentially, a ground-up rewrite of the original perl source code from releases 1 through 4. It has been modularized, object-oriented, tweaked, trimmed, and optimized until it almost doesn't look like the old code. However, the interface is mostly the same, and -compatibility with previous releases is very high. +compatibility with previous releases is very high. See L. To avoid the "what language is perl5?" confusion, some people prefer to @@ -91,16 +92,26 @@ simply use "perl" to refer to the latest version of perl and avoid using See L for a history of Perl revisions. +=head2 What is Ponie? + +At The O'Reilly Open Source Software Convention in 2003, Artur +Bergman, Fotango, and The Perl Foundation announced a project to +run perl5 on the Parrot virtual machine named Ponie. Ponie stands for +Perl On New Internal Engine. The Perl 5.10 language implementation +will be used for Ponie, and there will be no language level +differences between perl5 and ponie. Ponie is not a complete rewrite +of perl5. + =head2 What is perl6? -At The Second O'Reilly Open Source Software Convention, Larry Wall +At The Second O'Reilly Open Source Software Convention, Larry Wall announced Perl6 development would begin in earnest. Perl6 was an oft used term for Chip Salzenberg's project to rewrite Perl in C++ named Topaz. However, Topaz provided valuable insights to the next version -of Perl and its implementation, but was ultimately abandoned. +of Perl and its implementation, but was ultimately abandoned. -If you want to learn more about Perl6, or have a desire to help in -the crusade to make Perl a better place then peruse the Perl6 developers +If you want to learn more about Perl6, or have a desire to help in +the crusade to make Perl a better place then peruse the Perl6 developers page at http://dev.perl.org/perl6/ and get involved. Perl6 is not scheduled for release yet, and Perl5 will still be supported @@ -296,11 +307,12 @@ for any given task. Also mention that the difference between version (Well, OK, maybe it's not quite that distinct, but you get the idea.) If you want support and a reasonable guarantee that what you're developing will continue to work in the future, then you have to run -the supported version. As of January 2002 that probably means -running either of the releases 5.6.1 (released in April 2001) or -5.005_03 (released in March 1999), although 5.004_05 isn't that bad -if you B need such an old version (released in April 1999) -for stability reasons. Anything older than 5.004_05 shouldn't be used. +the supported version. As of August 2002 that means running either +5.8.0 (released in July 2002), or one of the older releases like +5.6.1 (released in April 2001) or 5.005_03 (released in March 1999), +although 5.004_05 isn't that bad if you B need such an old +version (released in April 1999) for stability reasons. +Anything older than 5.004_05 shouldn't be used. Of particular note is the massive bug hunt for buffer overflow problems that went into the 5.004 release. All releases prior to