in reply to Re: modules = minilanguages?
in thread modules = minilanguages?

An API gives you a vocabulary to describe some algorithm just like the core langauge itself does.

And the cool thing about Perl is that it is so flexible that a module cannot only add to your vocabulary, it can also change the grammar of the language.

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Re^3: modules = minilanguages?
by Aristotle (Chancellor) on Dec 22, 2004 at 10:23 UTC

    To a certain extent. Perl5 is not close to the most malleable language in that respect. Most functional languages are much further along and have been for a long time, and Perl6 will be a world apart from Perl5. (I can't wait — I've said before that the thought of TheDamian tinkering with Perl6 gives me the shivers, both in a good and bad way. ;-))

    Makeshifts last the longest.

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      Thanks for the input, everyone. Oh, and why does it give you shivers?
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        Just look at some of Damion's previous work. At a recent Perl conference, he demonstrated a Turing Maching inside Conway's Game of Life. I never would have thought this was possible, and coming from anyone else, I would have thought it was a joke. But there Damion was up on stage, showing that the whole thing worked out.

        "There is no shame in being self-taught, only in not trying to learn in the first place." -- Atrus, Myst: The Book of D'ni.

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