On: Differences Between Perl 5 and Perl 6

[a3n]

Is there a Perl 5 EOL being discussed?

Or, if Perl 5 and Perl 6 really are two completely separate languages separated by a similar syntax, then what comes after Perl 5 in the Perl 5 language? Will it forever be 5.N, 5.N+1, ...? (And, I guess, will there forever be 6.N, 6.N+1, ...?)

[bpmedley → a3n]

In my opinion, no, an EOL is not being discussed.

What is being discussed is the excitement brewing from the all the work that has transpired via the Modern Perl movement.

We have modern web frameworks (Mojolicious, Dancer, PSGI/Plack); YEARLY releases of Perl 5; CPAN has never been easier to work with (cpanm, cpanfile, carton); a healthy and supportive community; and modern infrastructure to work with OO (e.g. Moose).

There are several of other things I haven't mentioned.

For example, if you want to try a web app with one of the latest perls:

  $ curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tokuhirom/Perl-Build/master/perl-build | perl - 5.20.3 /opt/perl-5.20

  $ curl -L https://cpanmin.us | /opt/perl-5.20/bin/perl - App::cpanminus Mojolicious

  $ /opt/perl-5.20/bin/mojo generate lite_app all_the_awesome.pl

  $ /opt/perl-5.20/bin/perl all_the_awesome.pl daemon

... Goto a browser and visit http://127.0.0.1:3000

The above command assumes you have a system perl that can bootstrap your user perl into /opt/perl-5.20.

Thank you for asking.

[Moto7451 → a3n]

Pretty much. Perl 5 and Perl 6 have different maintainers and will continue on separately for the foreseeable future. Some in the Perl 5 community wouldn't mind a name change just so the Perl 5 v.s 6 naming scheme isn't an issue but it's not likely to happen.

[zoffix222 → a3n]

No, there won't be EOLs for the foreseeable future. For all purposes, you can imagine Perl 6 being called language XYZ. Even though 15 years ago, Perl 6 was envisioned as the next version of Perl 5, that is no longer the case. Perl 5 and Perl 6 are both actively-developed, modern languages—different languages, in the same family. Perl 5's latest release was just about 47 days ago and Perl 6's first release will be on Christmas.

[kamaal → a3n]

Its ridiculous to imagine any EOL for Perl 5, given how large that ecosystem is. Co existence is the way forward.

I think a good deal of Perl 6 features will seep into Perl 5 over time, while maintaining backwards compatibility.

[systems → kamaal]

i think if Perl6 becomes popular enough, most perl5 devs and shops will just move to perl6

while perl6 is truely a new languages not an upgrade to perl5

perl5 devs for a while have been under pressure to make perl5 more popular, using a popular language adds a padding of security, a cushion, perl5 devs are surely hungry for this

and if you like perl5 you will love perl6 as they seem to share the same values both languages that are syntax heavy, and languages that work the way you do, instead of forcing you to think a certain way .. like say functional languages

Perl6 is probably the complete opposite of say .. Haskell, but I believe in a good way ... it will be popular, i think it will be an agile language .. and many devs will love the flexibility

[mst → a3n]

perl5 is a language name - its current release is version 22.

I presume perl6 will be doing similarly.

[systems → mst]

mst as one of the biggest perl5 proponents are you planning to switch to perl6? 1. yes 2. no 3. maybe 4. will use both

[mst → systems]

I have a plan that involves using Inline::Perl6 to get at the grammar engine, which will presumably result in me writing perl6-side shim code and then I'll have a better idea how I feel about it.

So (4), but what percentage of each that'll end up being in the long run I've no idea.