How/where to start with Perl 6 and the Parrot? (was Re: Perl 6 needs you!)

Just in case someone runs into this issue, I thought I would go ahead and post this.

Previously, I had already obtained a copy of the Parrot engine thru CVS (current details available at http://dev.perl.org/cvs/), issuing (at the time) the commands:

# cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.perl.org:/cvs/public login  
# cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.perl.org:/cvs/public co parrot

When I attempted to update this time using the second command again, I received the message

cvs checkout: in directory .:
cvs [checkout aborted]: *PANIC* administration files missing

I was lucky enough to get a response from Elian in the CB, who suggested that I needed to remove the old directory to get it to work (which it did).

My other questions during that session I think others also may have, which included such things as:

If I don't consider myself a strong/good coder, but want to help, how can I do so?
What resources are recommended for someone wanting to help out? The Apocalypses? The Exegesises? The perl6-* lists? Others?

I'm sure myself and others have additional questions such as these, or possibly suggestions as well.

Comment on How/where to start with Perl 6 and the Parrot? (was Re: Perl 6 needs you!)

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Re: How/where to start with Perl 6 and the Parrot? (was Re: Perl 6 needs you!) by Elian (Parson) on Jun 18, 2002 at 16:53 UTC
What can you do to get yourself up to speed? That's a good question. Here are some suggestions. Read the Apocalypses and Exegesises. Learn how to write and understand a grammar (in the computer sense--something you'd feed to lex and yacc). Grammars make writing compilers a lot easier. General background reading on parsing is good Intro CS texts on compiler generation are useful. (Though skip the Dragon book, it's not that good) Practice! Write parsers for simple stuff, play with Parse::RecDescent, Parse::YAPP, and Parse::Nibbler, twiddle around. Look at the grammars for other languages. Perl and Ruby both have grammars that ship with them. (Though I'm not sure that'll help or hurt...) Size up your skills and decide what you realistically are up to. We need folks that can do all sorts of things, not just write compilers, so any and all help's useful.	[reply]

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Re: How/where to start with Perl 6 and the Parrot? (was Re: Perl 6 needs you!)
by Elian (Parson) on Jun 18, 2002 at 16:53 UTC

Read the Apocalypses and Exegesises.
Learn how to write and understand a grammar (in the computer sense--something you'd feed to lex and yacc). Grammars make writing compilers a lot easier.
General background reading on parsing is good
Intro CS texts on compiler generation are useful. (Though skip the Dragon book, it's not that good)
Practice! Write parsers for simple stuff, play with Parse::RecDescent, Parse::YAPP, and Parse::Nibbler, twiddle around.
Look at the grammars for other languages. Perl and Ruby both have grammars that ship with them. (Though I'm not sure that'll help or hurt...)
Size up your skills and decide what you realistically are up to. We need folks that can do all sorts of things, not just write compilers, so any and all help's useful.

[reply]