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Re: perl 6 requirements

From:
Nathan Wiger
Date:
July 31, 2000 20:02
Subject:
Re: perl 6 requirements
Message ID:
39863CA6.8E8A4F00@wiger.org
I hate to add more bloat to a huge list already, but...

Chaim Frenkel wrote:
> 
> Language
>   -> Obsolete Features
>      -> 1. Formats are not commonly used ....
> 
> I'm sorry where did this come from. I use formats regularly and quite
> usefully.
 
I agree 100%. If it was possible to agree more than 100% I would.

Remember, there are many of us that use Perl and come from a primarily
sysadmin background. Basically every Perl script I've written uses
formats to snip out disk usage, network statistics, etc. Don't forget
about us! The web is more glamorous, admittedly, but there are many who
like Perl because it's shell scripting on steroids and need to be able
to use it as such.

The only way I could see living with this is if it was moved to
"Format.pm" with identical syntax. I wouldn't mind adding a "use Format"
at the top of my scripts if it speeds the language up.

> Language
>   -> Unixcentrism
>      -> 1.PROBLEM: localtime's behaviour is non-intuitive for non-Unix people
> 
> (I've always wondered is why it is 'non-intuitive'? If 0 == January is
> a problem. What do they do to translate day-of-week? Is it Monday
> based or Sunday based. Don't they have to read the documentation?)

I agree too. In C/C++/Java all arrays (everything, actually) start with
0. Why would a computer programmer (UNIX or Microsoft or ???) be
confused by starting at 0? I have to agree with Chaim and disagree
vehemently that localtime() should be changed.

-Nate



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