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Re: Web Module (Was: Perl6 new features)

From:
Smylers
Date:
June 21, 2007 15:24
Subject:
Re: Web Module (Was: Perl6 new features)
Message ID:
20070621222338.GY6900@stripey.com
Moritz Lenz writes:

> Smylers wrote:
> 
> > Moritz Lenz writes:
> > 
> > > Web is hopefully "CGI done right"
> > 
> > ... why are we hoping that it will be "done right"?  
> 
> Because we hope we learned from the past. There are several other
> modules that fullfill most of CGI's tasks, some of them do most of it
> better. Reimplementing one of them would already make Web a "better
> CGI" ;-)

Indeed -- making a better CGI is a great idea.

But the fact that such innovations came along later supports my point.
I suspect that some of these got less mindshare than they otherwise
would have done (or were seen as inferior to CGI) because:

* The CGI module was core.

* By being called simply CGI, the CGI module gets some kind of
  superiority over all the other modules which have to be
  CGI::Something.

Has Larry yet decreed whether Web will be bundled with Perl 6?

> > Given the history of things like this it strikes me as unlikely that
> > now is the particular moment where we suddenly manage to create a
> > perfect library, and as such this would be hoping against the light
> > of available evidence!
> 
> You're right, but we should ship things as best as we can, so we try
> ;-)

Of course.  But there's a big difference between the attitude of 'let's
do the best we can right now' and 'this is our one chance to do this
right'.

> > It seems entirely possible that during Perl 6's life somebody,
> > possibly somebody who at the moment hasn't even heard of Perl 6,
> > will create a better web module.  It would be good if at that point
> > it becomes straightforward for it to get acceptance and people to
> > adopt it.
> 
> Right, but that's no reason not to try hard on your own.

It isn't.  But it is a reason to anticipate the existence of future
developments, and try to be careful not to do anything which makes life
harder for them.

Smylers



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