Most Perl 6 will look like Perl 5

[Abigail]

On Thu, Jan 24, 2008 at 03:09:08PM -0800, Ovid wrote:
> --- Dirk Koopman <djk at tobit.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> > There are different ways of saying the same thing, some new short
> > cuts 
> > (that are welcome) and some frankly esoteric things that make sense
> > to 
> > the likes of Ovid and Mr Conway, but will probably take the language
> > out 
> > of reach to mere mortals like myself.
> 
> Actually, have you read the article "And now for something completely
> similar" by Damian?  I can't find a copy online right now, but for most
> folks, Perl 6 really isn't changing that much. 


I think that currently even Damian is admitting that there are significant
changes.

I like to use the following example. What I do a lot in my programs
is indexing in hashes. And I believe I'm not the only person to use
hashes. So, my code is full of:

    $hash {key}

Well, that's not going to work in perl6. Not by a long shot.
First, you have to change the sigil. Instead of '$', you have to 
write '%'. Second, the whitespace is longer optional. It's forbidden.
Third, there's no auto-quoting inside the curlies, you have to be explicite.

Even something simple as C<< $hash {key} >> requires THREE changes, it
will now become C<< %hash{'key'} >>. 



Abigail