> Perl 6 may have been an effort to fix this, but went too far in the opposite direction; overly formalized, with a premature separation between VM and language

> Perl 6 may have been an effort to fix this, but went too far in the opposite direction; overly formalized, with a premature separation between VM and language that massively slowed development. I also think the Parrot VM project added a few years to P6's gestation. When you say "overly formalized", perhaps you mean the early break out of mailing lists and especially the Parrot project? I don't think "overly formalized" fits the last decade of Perl 6 development -- Pugs (2005 - 2007) was distinctly anarchistic.