Perl 6? Yeah, right.

Perl 6? Yeah, right.

As a long time Perl programmer, I was happy to see a reappearance of Perl on LWN. Sadly, there is very little here that hasn't been mentioned in any of the other "Perl 6 is Coming!" that have come out since Larry announced that "the effort to write Perl 6 has begun in earnest." in 2000.

2000.

That's 6 years. That's just shy of the time it took to go from Perl 1 to Perl 5.

I dearly love my Perl, and I'll continue to use it for small scripts and helper routines, but I've been waiting for 6 years for it to become a language I could get supported at my workplace, or one that I didn't have to scrounge for jobs for. Meanwhile I'm watching code drones getting solid salaries, support teams, and budgets. What's worse, they're making a bigger impact on the world because of that support.

Sorry Chase, this article hasn't changed anything for me, nor does it say much more than I could find in January (http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2006/01/12/what_is_perl_6.html) or Allison Randall's YAPC::NA 2005 Address (can't find a link) that I was present for.

I love what I see in the Synopses (SP?) but I loved it years ago when I first read them, and I still have nothing to take to work.

I realize I shouldn't criticize, since I haven't contributed myself, but I'd rather not hear about it until there is something finished. After all, that's the best way to avoid a title like "vaporware".