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Ask HN: Test-driving a Porsche: Arc or Perl 6?

• mechanical_fish 18y ago
  Like many people, I used to really like Perl 5 and I wrote some important code in it, though I feel that I never really understood a lot of its remote corners. But all I've seen of Perl 6 is its Wikipedia page, which I have just read. And now, for some reason, the image from this article is stuck in my mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_brother_where_art_thou http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_brother_where_art_thou "Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball." Somehow, Wikipedia's definition of the second-system effect feels incomplete without a link to Perl 6. I'd play with Arc. It's small, young, designed to be comprehensible, and based on one classic language instead of on all of them at once.
  • qhoxie 18y ago
    It's small, young, designed to be comprehensible, and based on one classic language instead of on all of them at once. I like this. Nicely stated.
  • platter32 18y ago
    That's a clever analogy (to the "Homer"), and it stuck in my mind too, however, upon closer inspection it doesn't really hold water. Homer designed "The Homer". Herb expressly told the engineers not to tell him what Homer was asking of them -- just to do it. With Perl 6 that's not so. Larry and Company are a group of very smart, talented, and dedicated developers who are working daily to create exactly what they think will make an awesome programming language... (and that's after extensive (an understatement) experience with Perl 5). Anyway, thank you for the great reply. My hunch is that both languages will probably be "fun to drive" (in their own ways), though, how long it takes you to learn to drive it, and what you can do with it once you're out on the open road, may vary. Edit: built Perl 6 (erm, Parrot and Rakudo) and tried it out at a very elementary level. Planning on putting a few hours into Arc this weekend.