use Perl

• forking the world again? (Score:5, Interesting)

  by hossman (2110)

  Is anyone else concerned that just as the rest of the programming languages in the world are getting arround to including regex support in the core language (or core libraries), and doing so by adopting the exact same syntax as "perl regular expressions", perl regular expression syntax is changing?

  I mean, it's the nature of things to change, but we're not going to win over converts from other languages if they have to learn all new regex syntax to use perl 6.
  • Re:forking the world again? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by rafael (2125)

    In other words, Perl's regexps drive the other languages' implementations.

    Note that the new syntax is also there to allow more powerful, BNF-like, constructs.
    • Re:forking the world again? (Score:2)

      by hossman (2110) on 2002.04.23 16:19 (#7419)

      In other words, Perl's regexps drive the other languages' implementations.

      Yes, but if all those millions of young'ns out there that only know java, and are just now learning the wonders of regexps read about "Perl regular expressions" in their javadocs, and then try to use perl6 and discover that the syntax has completely changed, they aren't going to be eager to figure it out.

      Note that the new syntax is also there to allow more powerful, BNF-like, constructs.

      Don't get me wrong, I'd love if if Perl made it trivial to write a parser for a BNF expressable grammer, but wouldn't that functionality be better left to a module (Parse::BNF sounds like a great name) with methods for defining grammers using hashes of hashes of arrays of hashes of tokens => subs?

      I mean, consider how many people use regexps on a daily basis to how many would even want to use BNF grammers on a weekly basis.

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      • Re:forking the world again? (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Elian (119)

        In other words, Perl's regexps drive the other languages' implementations.

        Yes, but if all those millions of young'ns out there that only know java, and are just now learning the wonders of regexps read about "Perl regular expressions" in their javadocs, and then try to use perl6 and discover that the syntax has completely changed, they aren't going to be eager to figure it out.

        They'll cope. :)

        The current regex syntax is past the point where adding new syntax is conceptually feasable.

        Also, if you rea
        • Recursive regexes (Score:1)

          by robin (1821)

          The current regex syntax is past the point where adding new syntax is conceptually feasible.

          I'm not so sure [freeserve.co.uk] about that.