Chaim Frenkel writes:
: >>>>> "DC" == Damian Conway <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
:
: DC> Only if you simultaneously remove Perl 5!
:
: DC> My (limited) understanding of the aims of Perl 6 were to start again with a
: DC> clean slate and fix the things that are broken, or that could be designed
: DC> better with hindsight. Backwards compatibily was to be fed to the lions.
:
: DC> If that isn't the case, I'll be unsubscribing immediately -- if Perl 6
: DC> is to be a mere exercise in featuritis, I'm not interested.
:
: The problem will be what do you do with all of the old guard? Larry has
: a major balancing act to do. Clean up the dirty laundry but still leave
: the language for those useful dirty deeds.
The only difficulty is if we fail to perceive which parts of Perl 5 go
in the washing machine, and which which parts go in the bathtub.
To me, formats are a no-brainer. They go in the washing machine, and
then back in the drawer where they're handy if you want to accomplish
formatly things. Translating Perl 5 formats to Perl 6 formats should
be pretty easy.
But yelling that formats are essential to the core reminds me of my
kids, who sometimes act as if they're being excoriated when we're
merely trying to get them out of their dirty clothes and into some
clean clothes. As humans we identify too closely with our clothes.
Larry
