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Postings from July 2000
Andy Wardley <abw@cre.canon.co.uk> wrote [ pre-ante-RFC on merging Scalar/Array/Hashe variables ] My immediate reaction to this was "Interesting idea, but what about Perl 5 compatibility?". Which lead to the question "To what extent is Perl 5 compatibility a constraint on Perl 6?". Perl 5 did a _very_ good job with maintaining Perl 4 compatibility. Compared with the size of the language, the list of traps in perltrap is _tiny_. Most Perl 4 programs Just Worked, and continue to work. Do we expect / want to achieve a similar standard of compatibility for Perl 5 -> Perl 6? What tools and mechanisms do we need to to assist compatibility? I think we need a discussion / mailing list on this point at an early stage. There's no point wasting time developing all sorts of wonderful ideas only to have them stamped on by the Backward Compatibility Police. I'd expect the list to produce a set of rules / guidelines to assist others in maintaining compatibility where desired. This might include "Thou shalt not ..." rules, but I'd mostly expect more like "Any proposal to do ... must include a compatibility bridge." Mike Guy