Re^4: OT? Pragmatic Perl

My point wasn't that perl6 can't be learned, just the opposite, that it must be *learned*. And that knowing perl5 won't be much of a help. To put it another way: Once my shop switches to perl6, a new hire that only knows perl5 has no real advantage over a new hire that only knows python. Both will have to *learn* perl6.

People who keep arguing about how trivial it will be to convert perl5 code into working perl6 code belittle the fact that perl6 will be a new language and that switching to perl6 will involve a lot more than just writing perl5 in perl6. A perl5 programmer moving to a perl6 shop probably has as much of a learning curve ahead of them as a perl5 programmer moving to a python shop (or a python programmer moving to a perl6 shop for that matter).

I don't have a problem learning perl6, and I've kept up with perl6 development as best as I can. I have a problem with people who trivialize what the cost of switching to perl6 will entail.

Comment on Re^4: OT? Pragmatic Perl

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Re^5: OT? Pragmatic Perl by chromatic (Archbishop) on Sep 26, 2004 at 05:57 UTC
A perl5 programmer moving to a perl6 shop probably has as much of a learning curve ahead of them as a perl5 programmer moving to a python shop (or a python programmer moving to a perl6 shop for that matter). Any programmer moving to a new shop has a learning curve ahead of him. The language, libraries, tools, and idioms are merely the building blocks of vocabulary with which developers write their stories. Learning the syntax and rules of Perl 6 isn't the tricky part. Learning how to put sentences and paragraphs together with the existing work is -- and that's true of any language and any shop.	[reply]
Re^6: OT? Pragmatic Perl by Anonymous Monk on Sep 26, 2004 at 06:35 UTC
sigh I fear I haven't made my point at all well. I have no problem with perl6, or with learning perl6. I have a problem with this node which brushes aside the real costs associated with moving to perl6 with a little handwaving about how little needs to be done to make perl5 code run in perl6 (which has nothing to do with the costs of switching to perl6, imho).	[reply]