X-Git-Url: http://git.shadowcat.co.uk/gitweb/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;f=pod%2Fperltodo.pod;h=e92d4742454db18f2dcaeb70171ac91ff80ff5f7;hb=0c2f6559512b2211f892f1a6ae8db4739c5369b4;hp=1d98fa80656dcfc0fcd2003a35d1ab3124fb0d2f;hpb=83df6a1d65c0fba9c27c7fb715fa674b03462cf0;p=p5sagit%2Fp5-mst-13.2.git diff --git a/pod/perltodo.pod b/pod/perltodo.pod index 1d98fa8..e92d474 100644 --- a/pod/perltodo.pod +++ b/pod/perltodo.pod @@ -4,8 +4,7 @@ perltodo - Perl TO-DO List =head1 DESCRIPTION -This is a list of wishes for Perl. It is maintained by Nathan -Torkington for the Perl porters. Send updates to +This is a list of wishes for Perl. Send updates to I. If you want to work on any of these projects, be sure to check the perl5-porters archives for past ideas, flames, and propaganda. This will save you time and also prevent you @@ -14,794 +13,969 @@ of archives may be found at: http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/perl5-porters/ +=head1 To do during 5.6.x -=head1 Infrastructure +=head2 Support for I/O disciplines -=head2 Mailing list archives +C provides this, but the interface could be a lot more +straightforward. + +=head2 Autoload bytes.pm -Chaim suggests contacting egroup and asking them to archive the other -perl.org mailing lists. Probably not advocacy, but definitely -perl6-porters, etc. +When the lexer sees, for instance, C, it should +automatically load the C pragma. -=head2 Bug tracking system +=head2 Make "\u{XXXX}" et al work -Richard Foley I is writing one. We looked at -several, like gnats and the Debian system, but at the time we -investigated them, none met our needs. Since then, Jitterbug has -matured, and may be worth reinvestigation. +Danger, Will Robinson! Discussing the semantics of C<"\x{F00}">, +C<"\xF00"> and C<"\U{F00}"> on P5P I lead to a long and boring +flamewar. -The system we've developed is the recipient of perlbug mail, and any -followups it generates from perl5-porters. New bugs are entered -into a mysql database, and sent on to -perl5-porters with the subject line rewritten to include a "ticket -number" (unique ID for the new bug). If the incoming message already -had a ticket number in the subject line, then the message is logged -against that bug. There is a separate email interface (not forwarding -to p5p) that permits porters to claim, categorize, and close tickets. +=head2 Create a char *sv_pvprintify(sv, STRLEN *lenp, UV flags) -There is also a web interface to the system at http://bugs.perl.org. +For displaying PVs with control characters, embedded nulls, and Unicode. +This would be useful for printing warnings, or data and regex dumping, +not_a_number(), and so on. -The current delay in implementation is caused by perl.org lockups. -One suspect is the mail handling system, possibly going into loops. +Requirements: should handle both byte and UTF-8 strings. isPRINT() +characters printed as-is, character less than 256 as \xHH, Unicode +characters as \x{HHH}. Don't assume ASCII-like, either, get somebody +on EBCDIC to test the output. -We still desperately need a bugmaster, someone who will look at -every new "bug" and kill those that we already know about, those -that are not bugs at all, etc. +Possible options, controlled by the flags: +- whitespace (other than ' ' of isPRINT()) printed as-is +- use isPRINT_LC() instead of isPRINT() +- print control characters like this: "\cA" +- print control characters like this: "^A" +- non-PRINTables printed as '.' instead of \xHH +- use \OOO instead of \xHH +- use the C/Perl-metacharacters like \n, \t +- have a maximum length for the produced string (read it from *lenp) +- append a "..." to the produced string if the maximum length is exceeded +- really fancy: print unicode characters as \N{...} -=head2 Regression Tests +NOTE: pv_display(), pv_uni_display(), sv_uni_display() are already +doing something like the above. -The test suite for Perl serves two needs: ensuring features work, and -ensuring old bugs have not been reintroduced. Both need work. +=head2 Overloadable regex assertions -Brent LaVelle (lavelle@metronet.com) has stepped forward to work on -performance tests and improving the size of the test suite. +This may or may not be possible with the current regular expression +engine. The idea is that, for instance, C<\b> needs to be +algorithmically computed if you're dealing with Thai text. Hence, the +B<\b> assertion wants to be overloaded by a function. + +=head2 Unicode =over 4 -=item Coverage +=item * + +Allow for long form of the General Category Properties, e.g +C<\p{IsOpenPunctuation}>, not just the abbreviated form, e.g. +C<\p{IsPs}>. + +=item * + +Allow for the metaproperties: C, C, +C, C (require the DerivedCoreProperties and +DerviceNormalizationProperties files). + +There are also multiple value properties still unimplemented: +C, C. -Do the tests that come with Perl exercise every line (or every block, -or ...) of the Perl interpreter, and if not then how can we make them -do so? +=item * -=item Regression + Case Mappings? http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr21/ -No bug fixes should be made without a corresponding testsuite addition. -This needs a dedicated enforcer, as the current pumpking is either too -lazy or too stupid or both and lets enforcement wander all over the -map. :-) +Mostly implemented (all of 1:1, 1:N, N:1), only the "final sigma" +and locale-specific rules of SpecCase are not implemented. -=item __DIE__ +=item * -Tests that fail need to be of a form that can be readily mailed -to perlbug and diagnosed with minimal back-and-forth's to determine -which test failed, due to what cause, etc. +UTF-8 identifier names should probably be canonicalized: NFC? -=item suidperl +=item * -We need regression/sanity tests for suidperl +UTF-8 in package names and sub names? The first is problematic +because of the mapping to pathnames, ditto for the second one if +one does autosplitting, for example. Some of this works already +in 5.8.0, but essentially it is unsupported. Constructs to consider, +at the very least: -=item The 25% slowdown from perl4 to perl5 + use utf8; + package UnicodePackage; + sub new { bless {}, shift }; + sub UnicodeMethod1 { ... $_[0]->UnicodeMethod2(...) ... } + sub UnicodeMethod2 { ... } # in here caller(0) should contain Unicode + ... + package main; + my $x = UnicodePackage->new; + print ref $x, "\n"; # should be Unicode + $x->UnicodeMethod1(...); + my $y = UnicodeMethod3 UnicodePackage ...; -This value may or may not be accurate, but it certainly is -eye-catching. For some things perl5 is faster than perl4, but often -the reliability and extensibility have come at a cost of speed. The -benchmark suite that Gisle released earlier has been hailed as both a -fantastic solution and as a source of entirely meaningless figures. -Do we need to test "real applications"? Can you do so? Anyone have -machines to dedicate to the task? Identify the things that have grown -slower, and see if there's a way to make them faster. +In the above all I contain (identifier-worthy) characters +beyond the code point 255, for example 256. Wherever package/class or +subroutine names can be returned needs to be checked for Unicodeness. =back -=head1 Configure +See L for what's +there and what's missing. Almost all of Levels 2 and 3 is missing, +and as of 5.8.0 not even all of Level 1 is there. +They have some tricks Perl doesn't yet implement, such as character +class subtraction. -Andy Dougherty maintain(ed|s) a list of "todo" items for the configure -that comes with Perl. See Porting/pumpkin.pod in the latest -source release. + http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr18/ -=head2 Install HTML +=head2 Work out exit/die semantics for threads -Have "make install" give you the option to install HTML as well. This -would be part of Configure. Andy Wardley (certified Perl studmuffin) -will look into the current problems of HTML installation--is -'installhtml' preventing this from happening cleanly, or is pod2html -the problem? If the latter, Brad Appleton's pod work may fix the -problem for free. +There are some suggestions to use for example something like this: +default to "(thread exiting first will) wait for the other threads +until up to 60 seconds". Other possibilities: -=head1 Perl Language + use threads wait => 0; -=head2 Prototypes +Do not wait. -=over 4 + use threads wait_for => 10; -=item Named prototypes +Wait up to 10 seconds. -Add proper named prototypes that actually work usefully. + use threads wait_for => -1; -=item Indirect objects +Wait for ever. -Fix prototype bug that forgets indirect objects. +http://archive.develooper.com/perl5-porters@perl.org/msg79618.html -=item Method calls +=head2 Better support for nonpreemptive threading systems like GNU pth -Prototypes for method calls. +To better support nonpreemptive threading systems, perhaps some of the +blocking functions internally in Perl should do a yield() before a +blocking call. (Now certain threads tests ({basic,list,thread.t}) +simply do a yield() before they sleep() to give nonpreemptive thread +implementations a chance). -=item Context +In some cases, like the GNU pth, which has replacement functions that +are nonblocking (pth_select instead of select), maybe Perl should be +using them instead when built for threading. -Return context prototype declarations. +=head2 Typed lexicals for compiler -=item Scoped subs +=head2 Compiler workarounds for Win32 -lexically-scoped subs, e.g. my sub +=head2 AUTOLOADing in the compiler -=back +=head2 Fixing comppadlist when compiling -=head1 Perl Internals +=head2 Cleaning up exported namespace -=head2 magic_setisa +=head2 Complete signal handling -C should be made to update %FIELDS [???] +Add C to opcodes which loop; replace C with +C; check C for signal safety. -=head2 Garbage Collection +=head2 Out-of-source builds -There was talk of a mark-and-sweep garbage collector at TPC2, but the -(to users) unpredictable nature of its behaviour put some off. -Sarathy, I believe, did the work. Here's what he has to say: +This was done for 5.6.0, but needs reworking for 5.7.x -Yeah, I hope to implement it someday too. The points that were -raised in TPC2 were all to do with calling DESTROY() methods, but -I think we can accommodate that by extending bless() to stash -extra information for objects so we track their lifetime accurately -for those that want their DESTROY() to be predictable (this will be -a speed hit, naturally, and will therefore be optional, naturally. :) +=head2 POSIX realtime support -[N.B. Don't even ask me about this now! When I have the time to -write a cogent summary, I'll post it.] +POSIX 1003.1 1996 Edition support--realtime stuff: POSIX semaphores, +message queues, shared memory, realtime clocks, timers, signals (the +metaconfig units mostly already exist for these) -=head2 Reliable signals +=head2 UNIX98 support -Mostly done in Perl 5.8, there is now a reliable signal handler -despatch. No measurable slowdown detected in Linux or Solaris -with the 5.8 approach (implemented by Nick I-S). +Reader-writer locks, realtime/asynchronous IO -There are at least three things to consider: +=head2 IPv6 Support -=over 4 +There are non-core modules, such as C, but these will need +integrating when IPv6 actually starts to really happen. See RFC 2292 +and RFC 2553. -=item Alternate runops() for signal despatch +=head2 Long double conversion -Sarathy and Dan discussed this on perl5-porters. +Floating point formatting is still causing some weird test failures. -=item Figure out how to die() in delayed sighandler +=head2 Locales -=item Add tests for Thread::Signal +Locales and Unicode interact with each other in unpleasant ways. +One possible solution would be to adopt/support ICU: -=item Automatic tests against CPAN + http://oss.software.ibm.com/icu/index.html -Is there some way to automatically build all/most of CPAN with -the new Perl and check that the modules there pass all the tests? +=head2 Arithmetic on non-Arabic numerals -=back +C<[1234567890]> aren't the only numerals any more. -=head2 Interpolated regex performance bugs +=head2 POSIX Unicode character classes - while (<>) { - $found = 0; - foreach $pat (@patterns) { - $found++ if /$pat/o; - } - print if $found; - } +(C<[=a=]> for equivalence classes, C<[.ch.]> for collation.) +These are dependent on Unicode normalization and collation. -The qr// syntax added in 5.005 has solved this problem, but -it needs more thorough documentation. +=head2 Factoring out common suffices/prefices in regexps (trie optimization) -=head2 Memory leaks from failed eval/regcomp +Currently, the user has to optimize C and C into +C and C<[fg]oo> by hand; this could be done automatically. -The only known memory leaks in Perl are in failed code or regexp -compilation. Fix this. +=head2 Security audit shipped utilities -Noticed in Perl 5.6: Also local()ising tied variables leak. +All the code we ship with Perl needs to be sensible about temporary file +handling, locking, input validation, and so on. -=head2 Make XS easier to use +=head2 Sort out the uid-setting mess -There was interest in SWIG from porters, but nothing has happened -lately. +Currently there are several problems with the setting of uids ($<, $> +for the real and effective uids). Firstly, what exactly setuid() call +gets invoked in which platform is simply a big mess that needs to be +untangled. Secondly, the effects are apparently not standard across +platforms, (if you first set $< and then $>, or vice versa, being +uid == euid == zero, or just euid == zero, or as a normal user, what are +the results?). The test suite not (usually) being run as root means +that these things do not get much testing. Thirdly, there's quite +often a third uid called saved uid, and Perl has no knowledge of that +feature in any way. (If one has the saved uid of zero, one can get +back any real and effective uids.) As an example, to change also the +saved uid, one needs to set the real and effective uids B-- in +most systems, that is: in HP-UX that doesn't seem to work. -New development in 2001: the Inline module, when it gels, shows great -promise. +=head2 Custom opcodes -=head2 Make embedded Perl easier to use +Have a way to introduce user-defined opcodes without the subroutine call +overhead of an XSUB; the user should be able to create PP code. Simon +Cozens has some ideas on this. -This is probably difficult for the same reasons that "XS For Dummies" -will be difficult. +=head2 DLL Versioning -=head2 Namespace cleanup +Windows needs a way to know what version of an XS or C DLL it's +loading. - CPP-space: restrict CPP symbols exported from headers - header-space: move into CORE/perl/ - API-space: begin list of things that constitute public api - env-space: Configure should use PERL_CONFIG instead of CONFIG etc. +=head2 Introduce @( and @) -=head2 MULTIPLICITY +C<$(> may return "foo bar baz". Unfortunately, since groups can +theoretically have spaces in their names, this could be one, two or +three groups. -Complete work on safe recursive interpreters Cnew()>. -Sarathy says that a reference implementation exists. +=head2 Floating point handling -=head2 MacPerl +C and C support is particularly troublesome. +(fp_classify(), fp_class(), fp_class_d(), class(), isinf(), +isfinite(), finite(), isnormal(), unordered(), , + (there are metaconfig units for all these) (I think), +fp_setmask(), fp_getmask(), fp_setround(), fp_getround() +(no metaconfig units yet for these). Don't forget finitel(), fp_classl(), +fp_class_l(), (yes, both do, unfortunately, exist), and unorderedl().) -Chris Nandor and Matthias Neeracher are working on better integrating -MacPerl into the Perl distribution. +As of Perl 5.6.1, there is a Perl macro, Perl_isnan(). -=head1 Documentation +=head2 IV/UV preservation -There's a lot of documentation that comes with Perl. The quantity of -documentation makes it difficult for users to know which section of -which manpage to read in order to solve their problem. Tom -Christiansen has done much of the documentation work in the past. +Nicholas Clark has done a lot of work on this, but work is continuing. +C<+>, C<-> and C<*> work, but guards need to be in place for C<%>, C, +C<&>, C, C and C. -=head2 A clear division into tutorial and reference +=head2 Replace pod2html with something using Pod::Parser -Some manpages (e.g., perltoot and perlreftut) clearly set out to -educate the reader about a subject. Other manpages (e.g., perlsub) -are references for which there is no tutorial, or are references with -a slight tutorial bent. If things are either tutorial or reference, -then the reader knows which manpage to read to learn about a subject, -and which manpage to read to learn all about an aspect of that -subject. Part of the solution to this is: +The CPAN module C may be a more suitable basis for a +C converter; the current one duplicates the functionality +abstracted in C, which makes updating the POD language +difficult. -=head2 Remove the artificial distinction between operators and functions +=head2 Automate module testing on CPAN -History shows us that users, and often porters, aren't clear on the -operator-function distinction. The present split in reference -material between perlfunc and perlop hinders user navigation. Given -that perlfunc is by far the larger of the two, move operator reference -into perlfunc. +When a new Perl is being beta tested, porters have to manually grab +their favourite CPAN modules and test them - this should be done +automatically. -=head2 More tutorials +=head2 sendmsg and recvmsg -More documents of a tutorial nature could help. Here are some -candidates: +We have all the other BSD socket functions but these. There are +metaconfig units for these functions which can be added. To avoid these +being new opcodes, a solution similar to the way C was added +would be preferable. (Autoload the C module.) -=over 4 +=head2 Rewrite perlre documentation -=item I/O +The new-style patterns need full documentation, and the whole document +needs to be a lot clearer. -Mark-Jason Dominus (mjd@plover.com) has an outline for perliotut. +=head2 Convert example code to IO::Handle filehandles -=item pack/unpack +=head2 Document Win32 choices -This is badly needed. There has been some discussion on the -subject on perl5-porters. +=head2 Check new modules -=item Debugging +=head2 Make roffitall find pods and libs itself -Ronald Kimball (rjk@linguist.dartmouth.edu) has volunteered. +Simon Cozens has done some work on this but it needs a rethink. -=back +=head1 To do at some point + +These are ideas that have been regularly tossed around, that most +people believe should be done maybe during 5.8.x + +=head2 Remove regular expression recursion + +Because the regular expression engine is recursive, badly designed +expressions can lead to lots of recursion filling up the stack. Ilya +claims that it is easy to convert the engine to being iterative, but +this has still not yet been done. There may be a regular expression +engine hit squad meeting at TPC5. + +=head2 Memory leaks after failed eval + +Perl will leak memory if you C. This is +partially because it attempts to build up an op tree for that code and +doesn't properly free it. The same goes for non-syntactically-correct +regular expressions. Hugo looked into this, but decided it needed a +mark-and-sweep GC implementation. + +Alan notes that: The basic idea was to extend the parser token stack +(C) to include a type field so we knew what sort of thing each +element of the stack was. The F code would then have to be +postprocessed to record the type of each entry on the stack as it was +created, and the parser patched so that it could unroll the stack +properly on error. + +This is possible to do, but would be pretty messy to implement, as it +would rely on even more sed hackery in F. + +=head2 bitfields in pack + +=head2 Cross compilation + +Make Perl buildable with a cross-compiler. This will play havoc with +Configure, which needs to know how the target system will respond to +its tests; maybe C will be a good starting point here. +(Indeed, Bart Schuller reports that he compiled up C for +the Agenda PDA and it works fine.) A really big spanner in the works +is the bootstrapping build process of Perl: if the filesystem the +target systems sees is not the same what the build host sees, various +input, output, and (Perl) library files need to be copied back and forth. + +As of 5.8.0 Configure mostly works for cross-compilation +(used successfully for iPAQ Linux), miniperl gets built, +but then building DynaLoader (and other extensions) fails +since MakeMaker knows nothing of cross-compilation. +(See INSTALL/Cross-compilation for the state of things.) + +=head2 Perl preprocessor / macros + +Source filters help with this, but do not get us all the way. For +instance, it should be possible to implement the C operator somehow; +source filters don't (quite) cut it. + +=head2 Perl lexer in Perl + +Damian Conway is planning to work on this, but it hasn't happened yet. + +=head2 Using POSIX calls internally + +When faced with a BSD vs. SysV -style interface to some library or +system function, perl's roots show in that it typically prefers the BSD +interface (but falls back to the SysV one). One example is getpgrp(). +Other examples include C vs. C. There are others, mostly in +F. + +Mostly, this item is a suggestion for which way to start a journey into +an C<#ifdef> forest. It is not primarily a suggestion to eliminate any of +the C<#ifdef> forests. + +POSIX calls are perhaps more likely to be portable to unexpected +architectures. They are also perhaps more likely to be actively +maintained by a current vendor. They are also perhaps more likely to be +available in thread-safe versions, if appropriate. + +=head2 -i rename file when changed + +It's only necessary to rename a file when inplace editing when the file +has changed. Detecting a change is perhaps the difficult bit. + +=head2 All ARGV input should act like EE + +eg C doesn't currently read across multiple files. + +=head2 Support for rerunning debugger + +There should be a way of restarting the debugger on demand. + +=head2 Test Suite for the Debugger + +The debugger is a complex piece of software and fixing something +here may inadvertently break something else over there. To tame +this chaotic behaviour, a test suite is necessary. + +=head2 my sub foo { } + +The basic principle is sound, but there are problems with the semantics +of self-referential and mutually referential lexical subs: how to +declare the subs? + +=head2 One-pass global destruction + +Sweeping away all the allocated memory in one go is a laudable goal, but +it's difficult and in most cases, it's easier to let the memory get +freed by exiting. + +=head2 Rewrite regexp parser -=head2 Include a search tool +There has been talk recently of rewriting the regular expression parser +to produce an optree instead of a chain of opcodes; it's unclear whether +or not this would be a win. -perldoc should be able to 'grep' fulltext indices of installed POD -files. This would let people say: +=head2 Cache recently used regexps - perldoc -find printing numbers with commas +This is to speed up -and get back the perlfaq entry on 'commify'. + for my $re (@regexps) { + $matched++ if /$re/ + } + +C already gives us a way of saving compiled regexps, but it should +be done automatically. -This solution, however, requires documentation to contain the keywords -the user is searching for. Even when the users know what they're -looking for, often they can't spell it. +=head2 Cross-compilation support -=head2 Include a locate tool +Bart Schuller reports that using C and a cross-compiler, he +got Perl working on the Agenda PDA. However, one cannot build a full +Perl because Configure needs to get the results for the target platform, +for the host. -perldoc should be able to help people find the manpages on a -particular high-level subject: +=head2 Bit-shifting bitvectors - perldoc -find web +Given: -would tell them manpages, web pages, and books with material on web -programming. Similarly C, C and so on. + vec($v, 1000, 1) = 1; -We need something in the vicinity of: +One should be able to do - % perl -help random stuff - No documentation for perl function `random stuff' found - The following entry in perlfunc.pod matches /random/a: - =item rand EXPR + $v <<= 1; - =item rand +and have the 999'th bit set. - Returns a random fractional number greater than or equal to C<0> and less - than the value of EXPR. (EXPR should be positive.) If EXPR is - omitted, the value C<1> is used. Automatically calls C unless - C has already been called. See also C. +Currently if you try with shift bitvectors you shift the NV/UV, instead +of the bits in the PV. Not very logical. - (Note: If your rand function consistently returns numbers that are too - large or too small, then your version of Perl was probably compiled - with the wrong number of RANDBITS.) - The following pod pages seem to have /stuff/a: - perlfunc.pod (7 hits) - perlfaq7.pod (6 hits) - perlmod.pod (4 hits) - perlsyn.pod (3 hits) - perlfaq8.pod (2 hits) - perlipc.pod (2 hits) - perl5004delta.pod (1 hit) - perl5005delta.pod (1 hit) - perlcall.pod (1 hit) - perldelta.pod (1 hit) - perlfaq3.pod (1 hit) - perlfaq5.pod (1 hit) - perlhist.pod (1 hit) - perlref.pod (1 hit) - perltoc.pod (1 hit) - perltrap.pod (1 hit) - Proceed to open perlfunc.pod? [y] n - Do you want to speak perl interactively? [y] n - Should I dial 911? [y] n - Do you need psychiatric help? [y] y - Hi, what bothers you today? - A Python programmer in the next cubby is driving me nuts! - Hmm, thats fixable. Just [rest censored] +=head2 debugger pragma -=head2 Separate function manpages by default +The debugger is implemented in Perl in F; turning it into a +pragma should be easy, but making it work lexically might be more +difficult. Fiddling with C<$^P> would be necessary. -Perl should install 'manpages' for every function/operator into the -3pl or 3p manual section. By default. The splitman program in the -Perl source distribution does the work of turning big perlfunc into -little 3p pages. +=head2 use less pragma -=head2 Users can't find the manpages +Identify areas where speed/memory tradeoffs can be made and have a hint +to switch between them. -Make C tell users what they need to add to their .login or -.cshrc to set their MANPATH correctly. +=head2 switch structures -=head2 Outstanding issues to be documented +Although we have C in core, Larry points to the dormant +C and C ops in F; using these opcodes would be +much faster. + +=head2 Cache eval tree -Tom has a list of 5.005_5* features or changes that require -documentation. +=head2 rcatmaybe + +=head2 Shrink opcode tables -Create one document that coherently explains the delta between the -last camel release and the current release. perldelta was supposed -to be that, but no longer. The things in perldelta never seemed to -get placed in the right places in the real manpages, either. This -needs work. +=head2 Optimize away @_ -=head2 Adapt www.linuxhq.com for Perl +Look at the "reification" code in C -This should help glorify documentation and get more people involved in -perl development. +=head2 Prototypes versus indirect objects -=head2 Replace man with a perl program +Currently, indirect object syntax bypasses prototype checks. -Can we reimplement man in Perl? Tom has a start. I believe some of -the Linux systems distribute a manalike. Alternatively, build on -perldoc to remove the unfeatures like "is slow" and "has no apropos". +=head2 Install HTML + +HTML versions of the documentation need to be installed by default; a +call to C from C may be all that's necessary. + +=head2 Prototype method calls + +=head2 Return context prototype declarations + +=head2 magic_setisa + +=head2 Garbage collection + +There have been persistent mumblings about putting a mark-and-sweep +garbage detector into Perl; Alan Burlison has some ideas about this. + +=head2 IO tutorial + +Mark-Jason Dominus has the beginnings of one of these. + +=head2 Rewrite perldoc + +There are a few suggestions for what to do with C: maybe a +full-text search, an index function, locating pages on a particular +high-level subject, and so on. + +=head2 Install .3p manpages + +This is a bone of contention; we can create C<.3p> manpages for each +built-in function, but should we install them by default? Tcl does this, +and it clutters up C. =head2 Unicode tutorial -We could use more work on helping people understand Perl's new -Unicode support that Larry has created. +Simon Cozens promises to do this before he gets old. -=head1 Modules +=head2 Update POSIX.pm for 1003.1-2 -=head2 Update the POSIX extension to conform with the POSIX 1003.1 Edition 2 +=head2 Retargetable installation -The current state of the POSIX extension is as of Edition 1, 1991, -whereas the Edition 2 came out in 1996. ISO/IEC 9945:1-1996(E), -ANSI/IEEE Std 1003.1, 1996 Edition. ISBN 1-55937-573-6. The updates -were legion: threads, IPC, and real time extensions. +Allow C<@INC> to be changed after Perl is built. -=head2 Module versions +=head2 POSIX emulation on non-POSIX systems -Automate the checking of versions in the standard distribution so -it's easy for a pumpking to check whether CPAN has a newer version -that we should be including? +Make C behave as POSIXly as possible everywhere, meaning we +have to implement POSIX equivalents for some functions if necessary. -=head2 New modules +=head2 Rename Win32 headers -Which modules should be added to the standard distribution? This ties -in with the SDK discussed on the perl-sdk list at perl.org. +=head2 Finish off lvalue functions -=head2 Profiler +They don't work in the debugger, and they don't work for list or hash +slices. -Devel::DProf requires more documentation. +=head2 Update sprintf documentation -=head2 Tie Modules +Hugo van der Sanden plans to look at this. -=over 4 +=head2 Use fchown/fchmod internally -=item VecArray +This has been done in places, but needs a thorough code review. +Also fchdir is available in some platforms. -Implement array using vec(). Nathan Torkington has working code to -do this. +=head2 Make v-strings overloaded objects -=item SubstrArray +Instead of having to guess whether a string is a v-string and thus +needs to be displayed with %vd, make v-strings (readonly) objects +(class "vstring"?) with a stringify overload. -Implement array using substr() +=head2 Allow restricted hash assignment -=item VirtualArray +Currently you're not allowed to assign to a restricted hash at all, +even with the same keys. -Implement array using a file + %restricted = (foo => 42); # error -=item ShiftSplice +This should be allowed if the new keyset is a subset of the old +keyset. May require more extra code than we'd like in pp_aassign. -Defines shift et al in terms of splice method +=head2 Should overload be inheritable? -=back +Should overload be 'contagious' through @ISA so that derived classes +would inherit their base classes' overload definitions? What to do +in case of overload conflicts? + +=head2 Taint rethink -=head2 Procedural options +Should taint be stopped from affecting control flow, if ($tainted)? +Should tainted symbolic method calls and subref calls be stopped? +(Look at Ruby's $SAFE levels for inspiration?) -Support procedural interfaces for the common cases of Perl's -gratuitously OOO modules. Tom objects to "use IO::File" reading many -thousands of lines of code. +=head2 Perform correctly when XSUBs call subroutines that exit via goto(LABEL) and friends -=head2 RPC +If an XSUB calls a subroutine that exits using goto(LABEL), +last(LABEL) or next(LABEL), then the interpreter will very probably crash +with a segfault because the execution resumes in the XSUB instead of +never returning there. -Write a module for transparent, portable remote procedure calls. (Not -core). This touches on the CORBA and ILU work. +=head1 Vague ideas -=head2 Export File::Find variables +Ideas which have been discussed, and which may or may not happen. -Make File::Find export C<$name> etc manually, at least if asked to. +=head2 ref() in list context -=head2 Ioctl +It's unclear what this should do or how to do it without breaking old +code. -Finish a proper Ioctl module. +=head2 Make tr/// return histogram of characters in list context -=head2 Debugger attach/detach +There is a patch for this, but it may require Unicodification. -Permit a user to debug an already-running program. +=head2 Compile to real threaded code -=head2 Alternative RE Syntax +=head2 Structured types -Make an alternative regular expression syntax that is accessed through -a module. For instance, +=head2 Modifiable $1 et al. - use RE; - $re = start_of_line() - ->literal("1998/10/08") - ->optional( whitespace() ) - ->literal("[") - ->remember( many( or( "-", digit() ) ) ); + ($x = "elephant") =~ /e(ph)/; + $1 = "g"; # $x = "elegant" - if (/$re/) { - print "time is $1\n"; - } +What happens if there are multiple (nested?) brackets? What if the +string changes between the match and the assignment? -Newbies to regular expressions typically only use a subset of the full -language. Perhaps you wouldn't have to implement the full feature set. +=head2 Procedural interfaces for IO::*, etc. -=head2 Bundled modules +Some core modules have been accused of being overly-OO. Adding +procedural interfaces could demystify them. -Nicholas Clark (nick@flirble.org) had a patch for storing modules in -zipped format. This needs exploring and concluding. +=head2 RPC modules -=head2 Expect +=head2 Attach/detach debugger from running program -Adopt IO::Tty, make it as portable as Don Libes' "expect" (can we link -against expect code?), and perfect a Perl version of expect. IO::Tty -and expect could then be distributed as part of the core distribution, -replacing Comm.pl and other hacks. +With C, you can attach the debugger to a running program if you +pass the process ID. It would be good to do this with the Perl debugger +on a running Perl program, although I'm not sure how it would be done. =head2 GUI::Native -A simple-to-use interface to native graphical abilities would -be welcomed. Oh, Perl's access Tk is nice enough, and reasonably -portable, but it's not particularly as fast as one would like. -Simple access to the mouse's cut buffer or mouse-presses shouldn't -required loading a few terabytes of Tk code. +A non-core module that would use "native" GUI to create graphical +applications. -=head2 Update semibroken auxiliary tools; h2ph, a2p, etc. +=head2 foreach(reverse ...) -Kurt Starsinic is working on h2ph. mjd has fixed bugs in a2p in the -past. a2p apparently doesn't work on nawk and gawk extensions. -Graham Barr has an Include module that does h2ph work at runtime. +Currently -=head2 pod2html + foreach (reverse @_) { ... } -A short-term fix: pod2html generates absolute HTML links. Make it -generate relative links. +puts C<@_> on the stack, reverses it putting the reversed version on the +stack, then iterates forwards. Instead, it could be special-cased to put +C<@_> on the stack then iterate backwards. -=head2 Podchecker +=head2 Constant function cache -Something like lint for Pod would be good. Something that catches -common errors as well as gross ones. Brad Appleton is putting -together something as part of his PodParser work. +=head2 Approximate regular expression matching -=head1 Tom's Wishes +=head1 Ongoing -=head2 Webperl +These items B need doing: -Design a webperl environment that's as tightly integrated and as -easy-to-use as Perl's current command-line environment. +=head2 Update guts documentation -=head2 Mobile agents +Simon Cozens tries to do this when possible, and contributions to the +C documentation is welcome. -More work on a safe and secure execution environment for mobile -agents would be neat; the Safe.pm module is a start, but there's a -still a lot to be done in that area. Adopt Penguin? +=head2 Add more tests -=head2 POSIX on non-POSIX +Michael Schwern will donate $500 to Yet Another Society when all core +modules have tests. -Standard programming constructs for non-POSIX systems would help a -lot of programmers stuck on primitive, legacy systems. For example, -Microsoft still hasn't made a usable POSIX interface on their clunky -systems, which means that standard operations such as alarm() and -fork(), both critical for sophisticated client-server programming, -must both be kludged around. +=head2 Update auxiliary tools -I'm unsure whether Tom means to emulate alarm( )and fork(), or merely -to provide a document like perlport.pod to say which features are -portable and which are not. +The code we ship with Perl should look like good Perl 5. -=head2 Portable installations +=head2 Create debugging macros -Figure out a portable semi-gelled installation, that is, one without -full paths. Larry has said that he's thinking about this. Ilya -pointed out that perllib_mangle() is good for this. +Debugging macros (like printsv, dump) can make debugging perl inside a +C debugger much easier. A good set for gdb comes with mod_perl. +Something similar should be distributed with perl. -=head1 Win32 Stuff +The proper way to do this is to use and extend Devel::DebugInit. +Devel::DebugInit also needs to be extended to support threads. -=head2 Rename new headers to be consistent with the rest +See p5p archives for late May/early June 2001 for a recent discussion +on this topic. -=head2 Sort out the spawnvp() mess +=head2 truncate to the people -=head2 Work out DLL versioning +One can emulate ftruncate() using F_FREESP and F_CHSIZ fcntls +(see the UNIX FAQ for details). This needs to go somewhere near +pp_sys.c:pp_truncate(). -=head2 Style-check +One can emulate truncate() easily if one has ftruncate(). +This emulation should also go near pp_sys.pp_truncate(). -=head1 Would be nice to have +=head2 Unicode in Filenames -=over 4 +chdir, chmod, chown, chroot, exec, glob, link, lstat, mkdir, open, +opendir, qx, readdir, readlink, rename, rmdir, stat, symlink, sysopen, +system, truncate, unlink, utime, -X. All these could potentially accept +Unicode filenames either as input or output (and in the case of system +and qx Unicode in general, as input or output to/from the shell). +Whether a filesystem - an operating system pair understands Unicode in +filenames varies. -=item C +Known combinations that have some level of understanding include +Microsoft NTFS, Apple HFS+ (In Mac OS 9 and X) and Apple UFS (in Mac +OS X), NFS v4 is rumored to be Unicode, and of course Plan 9. How to +create Unicode filenames, what forms of Unicode are accepted and used +(UCS-2, UTF-16, UTF-8), what (if any) is the normalization form used, +and so on, varies. Finding the right level of interfacing to Perl +requires some thought. Remember that an OS does not implicate a +filesystem. -=item Contiguous bitfields in pack/unpack +(The Windows -C command flag "wide API support" has been at least +temporarily retired in 5.8.1, and the -C has been repurposed, see +L.) -=item lexperl +=head1 Unicode in %ENV -=item Bundled perl preprocessor +Currently the %ENV entries are always byte strings. -=item Use posix calls internally where possible +=head1 Recently done things -=item format BOTTOM +These are things which have been on the todo lists in previous releases +but have recently been completed. -=item -i rename file only when successfully changed +=head2 Alternative RE syntax module -=item All ARGV input should act like <> +The C module, available from the CPAN, provides this: -=item report HANDLE [formats]. + my $re = Regexp::English + -> start_of_line + -> literal('Flippers') + -> literal(':') + -> optional + -> whitespace_char + -> end + -> remember + -> multiple + -> digit; -=item support in perlmain to rerun debugger + /$re/; -=item lvalue functions +=head2 Safe signal handling -Tuomas Lukka, on behalf of the PDL project, greatly desires this and -Ilya has a patch for it (probably against an older version of Perl). -Tuomas points out that what PDL really wants is lvalue I, -not just subs. +A new signal model went into 5.7.1 without much fanfare. Operations and +Cs are no longer interrupted by signals, which are handled +between opcodes. This means that C now actually does +something. However, there are still a few things that need to be done. -=back +=head2 Tie Modules -=head1 Possible pragmas +Modules which implement arrays in terms of strings, substrings or files +can be found on the CPAN. -=head2 'less' +=head2 gettimeofday -(use less memory, CPU) +C has been integrated into the core. -=head1 Optimizations +=head2 setitimer and getimiter -=head2 constant function cache +Adding C got us this too. -=head2 foreach(reverse...) +=head2 Testing __DIE__ hook -=head2 Cache eval tree +Tests have been added. -Unless lexical outer scope used (mark in &compiling?). +=head2 CPP equivalent in Perl -=head2 rcatmaybe +A C Yardley will probably have done this by the time you can read this. +This allows for a generalization of the C constant detection used in +building C. -=head2 Shrink opcode tables +=head2 Explicit switch statements -Via multiple implementations selected in peep. +C has been integrated into the core to give you all manner of +C semantics. -=head2 Cache hash value +=head2 autocroak -Not a win, according to Guido. +This is C. -=head2 Optimize away @_ where possible +=head2 UTF/EBCDIC -=head2 Rewrite regexp parser for better integrated optimization +Nick Ing-Simmons has made UTF-EBCDIC (UTR13) work with Perl. -The regexp parser was rewritten for 5.005. Ilya's the regexp guru. + EBCDIC? http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr16/ -=head1 Vague possibilities +=head2 UTF Regexes -=over 4 +Although there are probably some small bugs to be rooted out, Jarkko +Hietaniemi has made regular expressions polymorphic between bytes and +characters. -=item ref function in list context +=head2 perlcc to produce executable -This seems impossible to do without substantially breaking code. +C was recently rewritten, and can now produce standalone +executables. -=item make tr/// return histogram in list context? +=head2 END blocks saved in compiled output -=item Loop control on do{} et al +=head2 Secure temporary file module -=item compile to real threaded code +Tim Jenness' C is now in core. -=item structured types +=head2 Integrate Time::HiRes -=item Modifiable $1 et al +This module is now part of core. -The intent is for this to be a means of editing the matched portions of -the target string. +=head2 Turn Cwd into XS -=back +Benjamin Sugars has done this. + +=head2 Mmap for input + +Nick Ing-Simmons' C supports an C IO method. + +=head2 Byte to/from UTF-8 and UTF-8 to/from local conversion + +C provides this. -=head1 To Do Or Not To Do +=head2 Add sockatmark support -These are things that have been discussed in the past and roundly -criticized for being of questionable value. +Added in 5.7.1 -=head2 Making my() work on "package" variables +=head2 Mailing list archives + +http://lists.perl.org/ , http://archive.develooper.com/ + +=head2 Bug tracking + +Since 5.8.0 perl uses the RT bug tracking system from Jesse Vincent, +implemented by Robert Spier at http://bugs.perl.org/ + +=head2 Integrate MacPerl + +Chris Nandor and Matthias Neeracher have integrated the MacPerl changes +into 5.6.0. -Being able to say my($Foo::Bar), something that sounds ludicrous and -the 5.6 pumpking has mocked. +=head2 Web "nerve center" for Perl -=head2 "or" testing defined not truth +http://use.perl.org/ is what you're looking for. -We tell people that C<||> can be used to give a default value to a -variable: +=head2 Regular expression tutorial - $children = shift || 5; # default is 5 children +C, provided by Mark Kvale. -which is almost (but not): +=head2 Debugging Tutorial - $children = shift; - $children = 5 unless $children; +C, written by Richard Foley. -but if the first argument was given and is "0", then it will be -considered false by C<||> and C<5> used instead. Really we want -an C<||>-like operator that behaves like: +=head2 Integrate new modules - $children = shift; - $children = 5 unless defined $children; +Jarkko has been integrating madly into 5.7.x -Namely, a C<||> that tests defined-ness rather than truth. One was -discussed, and a patch submitted, but the objections were many. While -there were objections, many still feel the need. At least it was -decided that C is the best name for the operator. +=head2 Integrate profiler -=head2 "dynamic" lexicals +C is now a core module. - my $x; - sub foo { - local $x; - } +=head2 Y2K error detection -Localizing, as Tim Bunce points out, is a separate concept from -whether the variable is global or lexical. Chip Salzenberg had -an implementation once, but Larry thought it had potential to -confuse. +There's a configure option to detect unsafe concatenation with "19", and +a CPAN module. (C) -=head2 "class"-based, rather than package-based "lexicals" +=head2 Regular expression debugger -This is like what the Alias module provides, but the variables would -be lexicals reserved by perl at compile-time, which really are indices -pointing into the pseudo-hash object visible inside every method so -declared. +While not part of core, Mark-Jason Dominus has written C and has +also come up with a generalised strategy for regular expression +debugging. -=head1 Threading +=head2 POD checker -=head2 Modules +That's, uh, F -Which of the standard modules are thread-safe? Which CPAN modules? -How easy is it to fix those non-safe modules? +=head2 "Dynamic" lexicals -=head2 Testing +=head2 Cache precompiled modules -Threading is still experimental. Every reproducible bug identifies -something else for us to fix. Find and submit more of these problems. +=head1 Deprecated Wishes -=head2 $AUTOLOAD +These are items which used to be in the todo file, but have been +deprecated for some reason. -=head2 exit/die +=head2 Loop control on do{} -Consistent semantics for exit/die in threads. +This would break old code; use C instead. -=head2 External threads +=head2 Lexically scoped typeglobs -Better support for externally created threads. +Not needed now we have lexical IO handles. -=head2 Thread::Pool +=head2 format BOTTOM -=head2 thread-safety +=head2 report HANDLE -Spot-check globals like statcache and global GVs for thread-safety. -"B", says Sarathy. +Damian Conway's text formatting modules seem to be the Way To Go. -=head2 Per-thread GVs +=head2 Generalised want()/caller()) -According to Sarathy, this would make @_ be the same in threaded -and non-threaded, as well as helping solve problems like filehandles -(the same filehandle currently cannot be used in two threads). +Robin Houston's C module does this. -=head1 Compiler +=head2 Named prototypes -=head2 Optimization +This seems to be delayed until Perl 6. -The compiler's back-end code-generators for creating bytecode or -compilable C code could use optimization work. +=head2 Built-in globbing -=head2 Byteperl +The C module has been used to replace the C function. -Figure out how and where byteperl will be built for the various -platforms. +=head2 Regression tests for suidperl -=head2 Precompiled modules +C is deprecated in favour of common sense. -Save byte-compiled modules on disk. +=head2 Cached hash values -=head2 Executables +We have shared hash keys, which perform the same job. -Auto-produce executable. +=head2 Add compression modules -=head2 Typed lexicals +The compression modules are a little heavy; meanwhile, Nick Clark is +working on experimental pragmata to do transparent decompression on +input. + +=head2 Reorganise documentation into tutorials/references + +Could not get consensus on P5P about this. + +=head2 Remove distinction between functions and operators + +Caution: highly flammable. + +=head2 Make XS easier to use -Typed lexicals should affect B::CC::load_pad. +Use C instead, or SWIG. -=head2 Win32 +=head2 Make embedding easier to use -Workarounds to help Win32 dynamic loading. +Use C. -=head2 END blocks +=head2 man for perl -END blocks need saving in compiled output, now that CHECK blocks -are available. +See the Perl Power Tools. ( http://language.perl.com/ppt/ ) -=head2 _AUTOLOAD +=head2 my $Package::variable -_AUTOLOAD prodding. +Use C instead. -=head2 comppadlist +=head2 "or" tests defined, not truth -Fix comppadlist (names in comppad_name can have fake SvCUR -from where newASSIGNOP steals the field). +Suggesting this on P5P B cause a boring and interminable flamewar. -=head2 Cached compilation +=head2 "class"-based lexicals -Can we install modules as bytecode? +Use flyweight objects, secure hashes or, dare I say it, pseudo-hashes instead. +(Or whatever will replace pseudohashes in 5.10.) -=head2 Filenames +=head2 byteperl -Ongoing effort: keep filenames in the distribution and in the standard -module set be 8.3 friendly where feasible. Good luck changing the -standard modules, though. +C covers this. -=head2 Foreign lines +=head2 Lazy evaluation / tail recursion removal -Perl should be more generous in accepting foreign line terminations. -Mostly B in 5.005. +C gives first() (a short-circuiting grep); tail recursion +removal is done manually, with C. (However, MJD has +found that C introduces a performance penalty, so maybe +there should be a way to do this after all: C is better.) -=head2 Namespace cleanup +=head2 Make "use utf8" the default - symbol-space: "pl_" prefix for all global vars - "Perl_" prefix for all functions +Because of backward compatibility this is difficult: scripts could not +contain B (like Latin-1) anymore, even in +string literals or pod. Also would introduce a measurable slowdown of +at least few percentages since all regular expression operations would +be done in full UTF-8. But if you want to try this, add +-DUSE_UTF8_SCRIPTS to your compilation flags. - CPP-space: stop malloc()/free() pollution unless asked +=head2 Unicode collation and normalization -=head2 ISA.pm +The Unicode::Collate and Unicode::Normalize modules +by SADAHIRO Tomoyuki have been included since 5.8.0. -Rename and alter ISA.pm. B. It is now base.pm. + Collation? http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr10/ + Normalization? http://www.unicode.org/unicode/reports/tr15/ -=head2 autocroak? +=head2 pack/unpack tutorial -This is the Fatal.pm module, so any builtin that does -not return success automatically die()s. If you're feeling brave, tie -this in with the unified exceptions scheme. +Wolfgang Laun finished what Simon Cozens started. =cut