use Perl

Where To Begin Perl 6 Core Hacking?

posted by pudge on 2000.09.28 12:57   

`whoami` writes "Having the idea of hacking the perl core in mind since a quite long time, I recently thought that its ongoing reimplementation would be a very good opportunity to learn Perl's ropes. But like some other people I know, who would like to help out, I am hesitating because I have no idea which is a good area to begin with. So my basic question is: How and where would you start taking part in Perl core hacking, and what are good ways to prepare oneself for the specific task?

Just for illustration: I am proficient in C, have quite a lot CS Theory background ( even from university :) ), and I am using Perl as a first language since about two years.
Finally, some thoughts about the issue: Working on the docs is not what I'd imagine. (Even if I could translate the perldocs to German, my native tongue.) The regex engine or the code generator sound both interesting, but they have an aura to be too complex to master without a CS respectively a math degree."

• Hm, good question (Score:1)

  by Simon (89)

  First of all, make sure you have a development version of Perl. The file pod/perlhack.pod explains how to hack on Perl, which files contain what functionality, and gives you an overview of the internals. Once you've had a glance through that, hop over to pod/perlguts.pod and try and get an understanding of the internal data structures. Hop back and forwards between the two documents, until you're happy with both of them.

  Then subscribe to perl5-porters, (perlhack tells you how) and just watch for a while. S
• Re:Hm, good question (Score:1)

  by jhi (318)

  Either pudge mistitled the thread or Simon misread the question or the originator wasn't clear enough... :-) pudge says "Perl 6" while Simon is talking "Perl 5".
• Re:Hm, good question (Score:1)

  by Simon (89)

  I deliberately misread the question; it's hard to tell people how to start investigating the Perl 6 internals since they don't exist...
• Re:Hm, good question (Score:1)

  by `whoami` (159)

  Heh! Not clear enough!? Never say that again or I kill -9 you ;)

  But seriously. I meant: "How can I get involved into Perl 6 from the very beginning of the coding?"

  But your advice on Perl 5 was helpful as well, Simon :) But who want's to work on a soon-2-be obsolete (?) version of Perl (which has the reputation that it's internals are complex like quantum-electrodynamics) if the shiny-new camel is already in the starting block?
• Re:Hm, good question (Score:1)

  by Elian (119)

  Well, the easiest way is to subscribe to the perl6-internals mailing list and go from there. We're not at the coding stage yet--we're still at the beginnings of the design stage, though that'll probably change rather rapidly.