Re^3: I wrote an expression parser for PPI

Some thoughts

To be really more useful than a exotic dialect of Perl you will need to implement eval too, since recompiling is the core of all require and use code.

This means you'll also need to transpile your PPI-version.

You might also be interested in Flavio Glock's work running Perl under JS and Java, IIRC he's still onto it and gave a talk at last LPW.

> JavaScript would be really useful and has fast compiler, but it would be hard to compile XS to the browser (WebAssembly?).

HaukeX's WebPerl already does that at roughly half speed. Using a hypothetical B::Deparse2JS could be used to speed up time consuming sub-routines (in a kind of JIT/afterburner way).

My issue with WebPerl was that it's memory intensive and slow to start-up°, but I haven't looked into it since before the pandemic.

Cheers Rolf
_{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)

see Wikisyntax for the Monastery}

°) well maybe it's possible to hide this behind a web worker. And local caching in the browser would be a plus too.

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Re^4: I wrote an expression parser for PPI by BerntB (Deacon) on Jan 08, 2026 at 20:55 UTC
Ah yes, you are of course correct about `eval`. I will have to think about it. So it'll need a Perl process with a transpiler for evals, that will be slow. (I was planning to cache compiled Perl libraries that are use:d/require:d, it is high on the todo list.) I remember that Perl-in-the-browser Webassembly from before... Fun, but specialized. I remember Perlito, a subset so no CPAN modules? But I missed news about his PerlOnJava. That was cool! It is done by a real compiler guy. And he has done probably a work year more than me (I am just doing autovivification). But his JVM target is really ambitious, while I selected the easiest target possible (with PCRE etc). I hope he gets it to production ready.	[reply] [d/l]
Re^5: I wrote an expression parser for PPI by LanX (Saint) on Jan 08, 2026 at 22:04 UTC
I'm not sure how or if PPI handles prototyped subs. But I bet you need to take care in your project to handle them manually when they are exported. PPI as static parser might not attempt to recognize `try {}` beeing exported by `use Try::Tiny` ... Good luck with that. Cheers Rolf _{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :) see Wikisyntax for the Monastery}	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^6: I wrote an expression parser for PPI by BerntB (Deacon) on Jan 09, 2026 at 07:15 UTC
Yep, PPI worked. Prototypes are half done. The definitions of constants and prototypes are collected and sent in as a parameter to the expression parser.(When e.g. parsing lists, you of course need to know if a sub is declared to use n parameters.)	[reply]
Re^7: I wrote an expression parser for PPI by LanX (Saint) on Jan 09, 2026 at 20:59 UTC
Re^8: I wrote an expression parser for PPI by BerntB (Deacon) on Jan 11, 2026 at 11:24 UTC
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