X-Git-Url: http://git.shadowcat.co.uk/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=pod%2Fperlfaq1.pod;h=78720e75df01c421e4fd6327b966ad7856682899;hb=6e185322ba0316fe0cec9c987956d0088abd2a59;hp=43802d6d49f397e79a1675818e892e50f29fdda7;hpb=64427bf70e1d955de04b29a5fcc3ee29c42c1a05;p=p5sagit%2Fp5-mst-13.2.git diff --git a/pod/perlfaq1.pod b/pod/perlfaq1.pod index 43802d6..78720e7 100644 --- a/pod/perlfaq1.pod +++ b/pod/perlfaq1.pod @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ =head1 NAME -perlfaq1 - General Questions About Perl ($Revision: 1.23 $, $Date: 1999/05/23 16:08:30 $) +perlfaq1 - General Questions About Perl ($Revision: 1.5 $, $Date: 2002/01/27 20:22:52 $) =head1 DESCRIPTION @@ -33,13 +33,17 @@ distribution for more details. See L (new as of 5.005) for Perl's milestone releases. In particular, the core development team (known as the Perl Porters) -are a rag-tag band of highly altruistic individuals committed -to producing better software for free than you could hope to -purchase for money. You may snoop on pending developments via -news://news.perl.com/perl.porters-gw/ and the Deja archive at -http://www.deja.com/ using the perl.porters-gw newsgroup, or you can -subscribe to the mailing list by sending perl5-porters-request@perl.org -a subscription request. +are a rag-tag band of highly altruistic individuals committed to +producing better software for free than you could hope to purchase for +money. You may snoop on pending developments via the archives at +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 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). While the GNU project includes Perl in its distributions, there's no such thing as "GNU Perl". Perl is not produced nor maintained by the @@ -56,8 +60,8 @@ 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 Version 4 is old, limited, and no longer maintained; its last patch (4.036) was in 1992, long ago and far away.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 5.005_03 (although 5.004_05 is still supported). -The most cutting-edge development release is 5.005_57. Further references +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 @@ -78,8 +82,8 @@ 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. See L. +compatibility with previous releases is very high. +See L. To avoid the "what language is perl5?" confusion, some people prefer to simply use "perl" to refer to the latest version of perl and avoid using @@ -89,18 +93,19 @@ See L for a history of Perl revisions. =head2 What is perl6? -At O'Reilly's Second Open Source Convention (also known as the Fourth -Perl Conference, or TPC4) in July 2000, Larry Wall announced that -Perl6 development would begin in earnest. Perl6 was an oft used term -for Chip Salzenberg's project Topaz, but should not be confused with -the new effort to rewrite Perl while keeping the lessons learned from -Perl5 and other software in mind. +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. -If you have a desire to help in the crusade to make Perl a better place -then peruse the Perl6 developers page at http://www.perl.org/perl6/ and -get involved. +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. -The first alpha release is expected by Summer 2001. +Perl6 is not scheduled for release yet, and Perl5 will still be supported +for quite awhile after its release. Do not wait for Perl6 to do whatever +you need to do. "We're really serious about reinventing everything that needs reinventing." --Larry Wall @@ -120,10 +125,10 @@ and the rare new keyword). =head2 Is Perl difficult to learn? -No, Perl is easy to start learning -- and easy to keep learning. It looks +No, Perl is easy to start learning--and easy to keep learning. It looks like most programming languages you're likely to have experience with, so if you've ever written a C program, an awk script, a shell -script, or even a BASIC program, you're already part way there. +script, or even a BASIC program, you're already partway there. Most tasks only require a small subset of the Perl language. One of the guiding mottos for Perl development is "there's more than one way @@ -183,7 +188,7 @@ languages that come to mind include prolog and matlab. =head2 When shouldn't I program in Perl? -When your manager forbids it -- but do consider replacing them :-). +When your manager forbids it--but do consider replacing them :-). Actually, one good reason is when you already have an existing application written in another language that's all done (and done @@ -201,7 +206,7 @@ limitations given in the previous statement to some degree, but understand that Perl remains fundamentally a dynamically typed language, not a statically typed one. You certainly won't be chastised if you don't trust nuclear-plant or brain-surgery monitoring code to it. And Larry -will sleep easier, too -- Wall Street programs not withstanding. :-) +will sleep easier, too--Wall Street programs not withstanding. :-) =head2 What's the difference between "perl" and "Perl"? @@ -220,17 +225,17 @@ Larry doesn't really care. He says (half in jest) that "a script is what you give the actors. A program is what you give the audience." Originally, a script was a canned sequence of normally interactive -commands, that is, a chat script. Something like a UUCP or PPP chat +commands--that is, a chat script. Something like a UUCP or PPP chat script or an expect script fits the bill nicely, as do configuration scripts run by a program at its start up, such F<.cshrc> or F<.ircrc>, for example. Chat scripts were just drivers for existing programs, not stand-alone programs in their own right. A computer scientist will correctly explain that all programs are -interpreted, and that the only question is at what level. But if you +interpreted and that the only question is at what level. But if you ask this question of someone who isn't a computer scientist, they might tell you that a I has been compiled to physical machine code -once, and can then be run multiple times, whereas a I