NQP needs "!~~" operator

[coke]

Originally opened as https://rt.perl.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=128711 by Tom Browder

NQP currently requires this:

unless $var ~~ $regex { ... }

but it would be convenient to use:

if $var !~~ $regex { ... }

[zoffixznet]

The conversation [Coke] mentioned on the RT ticket is this: http://irclog.perlgeek.de/perl6-dev/2016-07-21#i_12882945

[arnsholt]

Given that NQP has ~~, adding !~~ makes sense (mirroring == and !=), IMO. But note that in NQP ~~ only works on full objects (not natives), throwing an exception if you try to smartmatch an int for example. This is why NQP has no given/when, it's simply not as useful in NQP (I implemented it at some point, but Patrick decided it wasn't useful enough to warrant inclusion, IIRC).

@jnthn, @pmichaud: Do you guys have an opinion on this?

[jnthn]

I'm fine with a !~~ that is simply the negation of NQP's rather simpler ~~.

[tbrowder]

I’m revisiting my feature request after “stressful” nqp work on Perl 6 pod tables where this would have helped my dyslexic old brain. I never checked the bug here after Coke moved it from Rakudo bug tracker, so I plan to work on this later.

Interesting recent discussion by Tom Ryder of use of “unless” in native languages as well as programming languages here:

http://blogs.perl.org/users/tom_ryder/2017/10/dont-use-until-unless.html