Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials, Second Edition [Paperback]

Allison Randal (Author), Dan Sugalski (Author), Leopold Toetsch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2004 | ISBN-10: 059600737X | ISBN-13: 978-0596007379 | Edition: Second Edition

Distilling many years of Perl experience--including an insiders look at Perl development (the authors are members of the Perl 6 core development team)--Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials, 2nd Edition is an unparalleled preview of major changes in the widely-anticipated Perl 6. This sneak peek of what's coming in Perl includes succinct but thorough coverage of groundbreaking new developments in Parrot--the language-independent interpreter engine that will execute code written in the new Perl 6 language. Designed to be language independent, Parrot can be used to interpret other dynamic languages such as Python, Tcl, Ruby, and even Java.

Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials also uncovers the most revolutionary change in the language itself--Apocalypse 12 on objects. The Apocalypse design documents (in the sense of "revealing", not "end-of-the-world") explain significant changes in new Perl 6 features, numbered according to the chapters in O'Reilly's landmark Camel book , Programming Perl.

Apocalypse 12 is the result of cutting-edge research in object-oriented languages and is guaranteed to grab the attention of any serious Perl programmer. Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials also includes expanded coverage of Apocalypse 5 (regular expressions) and Apocalypse 6 (subroutines).

Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials is the only book available to chart the course of the long but fruitful voyage of Perl 6. It reveals all the ingenious developments that will make Perl 6 more powerful and easier to use.

Perl gurus and programmers alike will rely on this slim but essential book for both a clear view of the Perl horizon and to ensure they hit the ground running once this important new version of Perl is released.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Allison Randal is the assistant project manager of the Perl 6 core development team. She has been working closely with Damian Conway and Larry Wall on Perl 6 and has co written the "synopses" of Perl 6. She is dedicated to the success of the project and is one of the very first to learn about anything new that's proposed for Perl 6.

Dan Sugalski is the chief architect for Parrot, the interpreter engine for Perl 6. He's been a Perl 5 core developer for years, writing more than a dozen modules in the process. He's been a contributor to The Perl Journal and The Perl Review, as well as the O'Reilly Network.

Leopold Totsch hails from Austria where he first started working with computers in 1976. He is an independent software developer who has been exploring and developing open source software since 1991. He's a frequent contributor to isdnlog (an open source project for monitoring ISDN lines and optimizing telephone costs) and spends the majority of his free time working on Parrot, the language-independent interpreter developed as part of the Perl 6 design strategy. Leopold T tsch is the pumpking for Parrot.

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; Second Edition edition (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059600737X
• ISBN-13: 978-0596007379
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,440,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Serious Perl programmers only, August 9, 2004

By 

Jack D. Herrington "engineer and author" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials, Second Edition (Paperback)

As you can imagine, this short book is only for the serious Perl guru. The first half of the book is on the Perl 6 language and is so terse that it's only readable by experienced Perl programmers. The second half of the book covers Parrot, the new Perl Virtual Machine. This is seriously hard core material, which is useful if you plan to write your own compiler to fit on top of the machine.

Doubtless this is some cutting edge and impressive material, but the book has no ramp for beginners. If your job depends on high-end Perl, you will want to read this book. If you are an average Perl user you can probably wait for the next version of Programming Perl.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Parrot ~ .NET ?!, July 19, 2004

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials, Second Edition (Paperback)

Perl 5 is the current version of Perl out there in active use. But a cadre of key developers has been steadily tooling up a major upgrade, Perl 6. This book gives you a detailed preview that claims to be an accurate description of what it will be, when it is officially released. In part, of course, so that existing Perl users can plan for the future. But the book is also a call to arms. If you are enticed and intrigued by Perl 6, and would like to contribute to its development, then please do so! The authors show how to join the development team. An all-volunteer effort, mind you. They can't pay you anything.

Speaking of which, that brings up the second part of the book. As part of the Perl 6 effort, there is a related project, Parrot. It will be a language independent virtual machine that can convert Perl 6 source to a byte code binary. And also do likewise for Tcl, Python, Java and other languages.

Does this ring any bells? Sounds in the spirit of Microsoft's .NET. That was and is a massive task in design and implementation. No one outside Microsoft, and precious few inside, knows how much it is costing. What is impressive is that here in Parrot, we have a bunch of volunteers trying a similar effort, with no $budget to speak of. Can they do it? The authors strongly argue, "yes".

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good reading in many ways for many users, August 12, 2004

By 

R. Dlugy-Hegwer (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials, Second Edition (Paperback)

I found this book well written and enjoyable. As someone interested in how a team goes about developing a new language, parts of it read like a good NY Times feature. For anyone writing Perl professionally, this is a good heads-up on where their language is going. For introductory Perl users, esp those coming from another language, the Design Philosophy and quick language review sections are very useful for 'grokking' Perl at a high level and then seeing how the pieces fall into place.