Re: Perl 6 Involvement

Should I read all the exegesis and apocalypses first?

That'd be a good start, although the language is constantly changing (and I don't believe the exegesis and apocalypses are updated so frequently). If you'd like to know what's been covered and where perl6 is going I'd recommend checking out the perl6-language mailing list and because it's a public forum you can easily contribute.

I take it Perl 6 and Parrot are completely separate projects. Which one requires more assistance?

Perl6 is basically ideas, discussion, documents and a bit of code at the moment and is developed quite separately (not entirely by any means) from Parrot. I couldn't say which needs more assistance but Parrot is there and running (so is some of Perl6, which comes with parrot) so is somewhat more hands on and could always to do with extra brain.

Documentation - where's it at? What needs to be written?

The perl6 docs consist of the exegesis and apocalypses and Michael Lazzaro's Perl6 Object Oriented Cookbook (with help from the community of course :). There's also the perl6-documentation mailing list that is trying to get the perl6 spec down on paper.
As for parrot, there's a good deal of documentation that comes with the download and of course you'll a lot of info/discussion about it on the perl6-internals mailing list.
If these mailing lists seem a bit daunting then I highly recommend the informative, succint and always entertaing perl6 summarys, summarized by none other than the wonderful pdcawley himself!

Level of skill required?

This really depends on what you're doing. Having C skills definitely helps with parrot development but you'll also need to get your head around some pretty nifty stuff. But if you're documenting then it's a different story altogether and really depends on your knowledge of what your documenting and subject surrounding it. However if you'd just like to be a casual contributor then the mailing lists are perfect tweaking ideas, adding syntax (seems to be quite popular among some of the regulars ;) and generally being another pair of eyes to look at what's going on.
HTH

_________ broquaint

Comment on Re: Perl 6 Involvement

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Re: Re: Perl 6 Involvement by Elian (Parson) on Jan 23, 2003 at 05:24 UTC
It's very important to keep in mind that the perl6-language list does not¹ directly affect the direction of perl 6. It is, in turns, a sounding board, think tank, shark tank, and insane asylum, but nobody on the list other than Larry has any say over what is going into perl 6. It's easy to think it does, and either dispair over the insane wackiness that sometimes run rampant, or get overly inpressed with oneself when the list generally agrees with a point you make. Many people from outside the community use it as their only window on perl 6's development and conclude it'll be a festering pile of linguistic crap. The perl 6 language list can be interesting, and it is at times useful in the development of perl 6, but it is, at best, advisory, so as long as you keep that in mind you'll be fine. ¹I tried to make this blink for extra emphasis, but alas no joy there.	[reply]

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Re: Re: Perl 6 Involvement
by Elian (Parson) on Jan 23, 2003 at 05:24 UTC

not

It's easy to think it does, and either dispair over the insane wackiness that sometimes run rampant, or get overly inpressed with oneself when the list generally agrees with a point you make. Many people from outside the community use it as their only window on perl 6's development and conclude it'll be a festering pile of linguistic crap.

The perl 6 language list can be interesting, and it is at times useful in the development of perl 6, but it is, at best, advisory, so as long as you keep that in mind you'll be fine.

¹I tried to make this blink for extra emphasis, but alas no joy there.

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