5 ms·

Why? Isn't Perl6 the "new hot" thing? You could rename Perl5 to Pearl Classic. (see Python...)

awnstudio 15y ago
... Availability of libraries (IMHO). Perl 5 - CPAN (pass), + CPAN (omfg). Same thing with Perl 6.
jinushaun 15y ago
Because Perl 6 is an incomplete language still in development that, in all honestly, has no chance of ever replacing Perl 5. It's been in development since 2000 and is a spec with no "official" implementation. Perl 6 is so different that it might as well be considered a different language. Hence, "real Perl" is Perl 5 and Perl 6 should be called something else.
- jacques_chester 15y ago
  If they'd called it "Perl NG", then we wouldn't be talking about Perl 5.16. We'd be talking about Perl 21 vs Perl NG.
sciurus 15y ago
That's exactly the attitude those proposing name changes want to dispel. "People ask for name changes so they can show the rest of the world just how alive Perl 5 really is."
- cageface 15y ago
  Good luck with that. In 1999 every programmer I knew used Perl. Now I don't know anybody that hasn't moved on to Ruby or Python.
  - minikomi 15y ago
    Oddly enough, despite Ruby's origins, Perl is still very widely used in Japan.
    - cageface 15y ago
      Strange. In what kinds of applications?
      - unauth 15y ago
        web development mostly. Big Japanese companies use perl for their backend and you can find many blog entries about perl in Japanese.
        minikomi 15y ago
        And many seem to have rolled their own frameworks long ago - and are reluctant to move on when things are working.
      - alexjgough 15y ago
        On computers, mostly.
skimbrel 15y ago
Sadly, the situation is different from Python's. Python 3 is well-defined, with a stable and usable implementation. You can port your code to it today, and even big projects like Django are getting ready to shift over to it. Perl 6's definition continues to change, with no clear spec, and the leading implementation (Rakudo) doesn't have half of the features built. Even if there were a feature-complete implementation of it I wouldn't dream of starting to port my code over to Perl 6 yet. Perl 6 is really a different language, and should be named as such. With that out of the way, Perl 5 can then get rid of its "5" and move on to release 16 in a year.
- wunderfool 15y ago
  it is worth noting that since you are trolling a bit, that the changes evident between python 2 and 3 are only about as significant as those from perl5.12 to perl5.14
- berntb 15y ago
  >>Sadly, the situation is different from Python's. >>Python 3 is well-defined, with a stable and usable implementation. It is hard to compare. The main similarity between Perl 6 and Python 3 is probably the age. The main difference is that Perl 6 is really, really ambitious.

... Availability of libraries (IMHO). Perl 5 - CPAN (pass), + CPAN (omfg). Same thing with Perl 6.

Because Perl 6 is an incomplete language still in development that, in all honestly, has no chance of ever replacing Perl 5. It's been in development since 2000 and is a spec with no "official" implementation. Perl 6 is so different that it might as well be considered a different language. Hence, "real Perl" is Perl 5 and Perl 6 should be called something else.

jacques_chester 15y ago
If they'd called it "Perl NG", then we wouldn't be talking about Perl 5.16. We'd be talking about Perl 21 vs Perl NG.

sciurus 15y ago

That's exactly the attitude those proposing name changes want to dispel. "People ask for name changes so they can show the rest of the world just how alive Perl 5 really is."

cageface 15y ago
Good luck with that. In 1999 every programmer I knew used Perl. Now I don't know anybody that hasn't moved on to Ruby or Python.
- minikomi 15y ago
  Oddly enough, despite Ruby's origins, Perl is still very widely used in Japan.
  - cageface 15y ago
    Strange. In what kinds of applications?
    - unauth 15y ago
      web development mostly. Big Japanese companies use perl for their backend and you can find many blog entries about perl in Japanese.
      - minikomi 15y ago
        And many seem to have rolled their own frameworks long ago - and are reluctant to move on when things are working.
    - alexjgough 15y ago
      On computers, mostly.

skimbrel 15y ago

Sadly, the situation is different from Python's. Python 3 is well-defined, with a stable and usable implementation. You can port your code to it today, and even big projects like Django are getting ready to shift over to it. Perl 6's definition continues to change, with no clear spec, and the leading implementation (Rakudo) doesn't have half of the features built. Even if there were a feature-complete implementation of it I wouldn't dream of starting to port my code over to Perl 6 yet. Perl 6 is really a different language, and should be named as such. With that out of the way, Perl 5 can then get rid of its "5" and move on to release 16 in a year.

wunderfool 15y ago
it is worth noting that since you are trolling a bit, that the changes evident between python 2 and 3 are only about as significant as those from perl5.12 to perl5.14
berntb 15y ago
>>Sadly, the situation is different from Python's. >>Python 3 is well-defined, with a stable and usable implementation. It is hard to compare. The main similarity between Perl 6 and Python 3 is probably the age. The main difference is that Perl 6 is really, really ambitious.