in reply to perlcheat

I like cheatsheets. A lot. For one reason or another, I have a lousy memory, and often need a quick refresh to key into the knowledge that has been lost somewhere in my brain. For this reason, I have a large list of aliases in my .tcshrc file, and I am never without my PDA.

As a matter of fact, I don't think "cheatsheet" is a fair name. As long as you're not taking a closed-book test, who cares if you need a quick refresh on pack? Isn't that what documentation is for in the first place?

Adding a cheatsheet to perl would be a godsend. We've already got perldoc. Why not include a quickie version? It's not like we're adding a 100 meg PDF to the binary. For what it's worth, I say go for it, and I'll look forward to seeing perlcheat in Perl 6.

-Logan
"What do I want? I'm an American. I want more."

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: perlcheat
by Juerd (Abbot) on Feb 23, 2003 at 23:39 UTC

    and I'll look forward to seeing perlcheat in Perl 6.

    The next version of Perl will not be Perl 6, and this cheat sheet is a Perl 5 cheat sheet.

    Perl 6 is a new language. Most of this cheat sheet does not apply to Perl 6. Heck, most of Perl as we know it does not apply to Perl 6. I think the difference between Perl 5 and 6 will much greater than the difference between C and C++ :) 

    Juerd
- http://juerd.nl/
- spamcollector_perlmonks@juerd.nl (do not use).

[reply]
      Perl 6 is a new language.

      Err. No. Perl 6 is a new version of the same language: Perl. Just as Perl 5 was. Just as Perl 4 was.

      Most of this cheat sheet does not apply to Perl 6.

      Au contraire! The vast majority of it is unchanged for Perl 6. See my other node on this topic.

      Heck, most of Perl as we know it does not apply to Perl 6.

      Just not true. My guess is that about 80% of your existing Perl knowledge will map usefully over to Perl 6.

      I think the difference between Perl 5 and 6 will much greater than the difference between C and C++ :)

      I very much doubt it. More like the difference between pre-ANSI C++ and post-ANSI C++.

      Except, of course, that Perl 6 won't suck. ;-)

[reply]

        Err. No. Perl 6 is a new version of the same language: Perl. Just as Perl 5 was. Just as Perl 4 was.

        I know that's the story. My brain just won't accept it as a fact. Doesn't re-designing something from scratch essentially make it new? Anyhow, please excuse me for spreading wrong information.

        Au contraire! The vast majority of it is unchanged for Perl 6.

        Array and hash slice and element sigils change, the arrow becomes a nice little dot, parens in constructs like loops are no longer needed for most expressions, the operator precedence table is likely to change, regex metacharacters change as well as regex modifier and predefined classes (or should I say rules?). Many of the special variables change or are reincarnated as att^H^H^Hproperties. That leaves only context (the current list is incomplete too: Perl 5 already has several scalar contexts), sigils (but will there still be globs?), do's and don't's. I wouldn't call that "the vast majority".

        Except, of course, that Perl 6 won't suck. ;-)

        Of course it won't suck :) And sure, it will still be Perl, a better Perl even. Just not the Perl I know. 

        Juerd
- http://juerd.nl/
- spamcollector_perlmonks@juerd.nl (do not use).

[reply]

In Section Meditations