Re^6: Two more Features Perl 5 Maybe Needs

Perl should drop sigils entirely.

Having actually patched the Perl 5 parser and lexer multiple times, I'm going to pull an argument from authority and say that if you like never getting new features in Perl, dropping the sigils is a wonderful idea.

To make Perl work without sigils, you probably have to drop context, you definitely have to drop barewords, you likely have to drop prototypes, you may have to drop import() in some cases, and you can probably get rid of BEGIN. Alternately, you have to namespace or prefix new keywords to prevent collisions.

I can't imagine a pleasant result.

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Re^7: Two more Features Perl 5 Maybe Needs by jdporter (Paladin) on Dec 21, 2008 at 20:57 UTC
In case it wasn't clear, my anti-sigils rant is issued in full "wish-list mode". I don't actually expect anybody to do it, nor that it would even be feasible. And let me also state clearly for the record (in case anyone suspects otherwise) that I am very comfortable with sigils, and don't regret them in Perl 5 at all. But it's not about me. Between the mind which plans and the hands which build, there must be a mediator... and this mediator must be the heart.	[reply]

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Re^7: Two more Features Perl 5 Maybe Needs
by jdporter (Paladin) on Dec 21, 2008 at 20:57 UTC

In case it wasn't clear, my anti-sigils rant is issued in full "wish-list mode". I don't actually expect anybody to do it, nor that it would even be feasible. And let me also state clearly for the record (in case anyone suspects otherwise) that I am very comfortable with sigils, and don't regret them in Perl 5 at all. But it's not about me.

Between the mind which plans and the hands which build, there must be a mediator... and this mediator must be the heart.

[reply]