Tsk, tsk, tsk ... both Ruby and PHP have more votes ... I guess there's more Ruby and PHP guys registered on code.google.com ...

Jenda


Support Denmark! Defend the free world!

Hi,

I have been promoting the idea of a community project to get Perl supported on Google App Engine.

• http://code.google.com/p/googleappengine/issues/detail?id=34#c436
I have made various contacts with people inside Google, and it seems that the core App Engine team is busy with plenty of other thinigs. However, this does not stop the community from getting something started. We will likely attract perl advocates within Google as we go along, even if they are not on the App Engine team. I would like to see the effort advance until the point where it becomes a simple matter for the App Engine team to embrace Perl.

I have started a project for all people interested in following this effort or contributing toward it.

• http://code.google.com/p/perl-appengine/
Please visit the website, sign up for the mailing list, spread the word, and start contributing.

Thanks,

Stephen Adkins
spadkins@gmail.com

Hi,

It is clear from the modifications that were made to Python in order f
+or it
to be supported that there is a fair bit of language modification requ
+ired.
Furthermore, Guido van Rossum joined the AppEngine team.

In order for Perl to ever be supported, it is probable that core membe
+rs of
the Perl community would need to be mobilized to support that effort.

I would like to see this project get organized and get off the ground.
I am volunteering to spearhead it (at least until someone better capab
+le
of doing it volunteers) and mobilize members of the Perl community who
can assist with this. (i.e. to create a version of Perl, a set of libr
+aries,
and a collection of frameworks with sufficient features disabled and s
+ufficient
additional support added for BigTable, etc.)

However, I need an organizing contact at Google to coordinate with.
If there is any possibility of this working out, please let me know wh
+o that
would be.

Thanks,

Stephen Adkins
spadkins@gmail.com

P.S. YAPC::NA 2008 is coming up (in Chicago) in June, and this would b
+e
an ideal time to advance such a project through its organizational pha
+ses.
So there is some aspect of this that is time-critical.
[download]

holli, I believe spadkins is the Stephen Adkins who wrote that post.


TGI says moo

It would be neat, but how effective would our efforts be? I don't see anything on the description of the AppEngine that even implies they are looking for feedback for future language options at this point. Also, Google doesn't seem particularly enamored with Perl development, and they probably are already working on their own chosen set of languages as this thing comes out of beta.

I'm not trying to be a party pooper, but have you talked with anyone at Google to see their current stance on it?

Why, thank you for volunteering, Stephen! Tell us when it's ready on CPAN... ;-)

Right now, we're still in the marketing-frenzy stage. Nobody knows quite for sure what “it” is, but everybody knows that “it” is sure to be the Next Best Thing Since Dot-BombCom. Whatever that means... In other words, we're not yet really at a point that has anything to do with engineering. Stock-market speculators must have their day first.

In a year or two, I think, and probably not any sooner, we'll start to have a mature and competitive marketplace for computing and storage capacity. (There's a “geographically mis-placed oversupply” of both, which of course means potential opportunity.) But we're just not there yet. A whole lot of trial-and-error is going to be taking place, and there's quite a lot to be said for not trying to be too much of an early-adopter. Methinks...

Neither Perl nor any other mainstream language will be excluded, quite of necessity. That much we know. But “mister market's recognition that there could be a future opportunity here” is not necessarily a starting-gun. The open-source way of “do it and share it” means that we will not be out-of-the-running at any point at all. Someone (you?) will “build it, and we will come.” If you have a well-defined idea of what the need is, I'm sure you can organize a project and find plenty of willing and knowledgeable contributors lurking near here.