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[perl #126715] Deprecate barewords?

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From:
Ed Avis via RT
Date:
November 23, 2015 18:21
Subject:
[perl #126715] Deprecate barewords?
Message ID:
rt-4.0.18-13041-1448302872-723.126715-15-0@perl.org
Actually, I would expect p5-porters to be the place most likely to find users of odd language quirks like barewords.  Tom Christiansen was perhaps the only Perl programmer still using the 'do SUBROUTINE(LIST)' form, in some presumably ancient scripts.  (Note that it ended up being deprecated despite still having at least one active user.)  Of course you are right that the readers of the list don't have exhaustive knowledge of all Perl code still in existence, and can't say for sure whether barewords are not still used somewhere, but that is true for every language change.

I am not suggesting to add a warning for the sake of a warning.  I am suggesting to remove barewords from the language, if indeed they are completely unused and unwanted by anyone.  Naturally, the first step in removing them would be to add a deprecation warning, but that is not the end point.

There are reasons to get rid of barewords, which I would be happy to discuss, but I think a necessary first step is a quick survey to see if any of the p5-porters, at least, are still using them or know of code which still uses them.

---
via perlbug:  queue: perl5 status: open
https://rt.perl.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=126715

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