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announce.v7
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announce.v7
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Announce: Niecza Perl 6 v7
This is the seventh release of Niecza Perl 6, as usual scheduled on
the last Monday of the month. I am pleased to note that Niecza is
starting to attract attention from the broader community. However,
this probably means a better name is needed; "Niecza" was OK as a
project name but is LTA for talking about. Suggestions are welcome.
You can obtain a build of Niecza from [1]. This build contains a
working compiler as a set of .exe and .dll files suitable for use with
Mono or Microsoft .NET. If you wish to follow latest developments,
you can obtain the source from [2]; however, you will still need a
binary for bootstrapping, so you gain nothing from a "source is
better" perspective.
Niecza is a Perl 6 compiler project studying questions about the
efficient implementability of Perl 6 features. It currently targets
the Common Language Runtime; both Mono and Microsoft .NET are known to
work. On Windows, Cygwin is required for source builds only; see the
README for details.
List of changes
[Breaking changes]
INVOKE has been renamed postcircumfix:<( )>, at_key and at_pos likewise.
You will need to change any classes that overrode one or more.
Constants now default to our scope, not my.
[Major features]
eval has been overhauled. It now provides access to lexical variables in the
surrounding scope, can return values to the surrounding scope, and can use
control operators. This includes the ability to use operators in the
surrounding scope.
Similarly the REPL now supports variables carrying over between lines, and
automatically prints values if you do not call an output function. The REPL
will catch exceptions and syntax errors; the only major features it's missing
now are editing and autocompletion.
Junctions are now implemented.
Subset and enum are available, completing the standard roster of type
declarators. As usual, no BEGIN means enum initializers are limited.
Bool is an enum now.
Handling of packages has been considerably redone. Foo::Bar now goes through
the WHO slot on Foo, like it was always supposed to. Packages can now be
overwritten by non-packages if necessary.
Niecza's parser has been modified to not keep a redundant second copy of the
symbol table, improving a number of corner cases (most notably the requirement
to use ::Foo::Bar with imported classes) and improving warnings.
Everything that can produce compile errors (except compiler bugs) is now
checked for during the parse, and results in a SORRY, not a random exception.
Object creation now supports BUILD submethods and has been greatly optimized;
it also uses CREATE, new, and bless as documented.
Sequence operators (... and ...^) are now supported.
Operator precedence traits (looser, tighter, equiv, assoc) are now supported.
[Minor new features]
It is now possible to use {YOU_ARE_HERE} in a loop; the -n and -p options
are now supported.
Magical increment/decrement of Str is now available.
Polymorphic comparison operators are starting to be stubbed in.
Sort can now take arity-one callbacks.
Assigning a single hash to a hash no longer dies.
Block parameters now default to Mu, and invocants to ::?CLASS.
Our subs are now supported.
It is now possible to bind to array and hash elements.
Packages and modules are now treated like classes, returning a type object
(which !~~ Mu, so is fairly useless), not Any.
:g/:global adverb to s/// now available.
Error messages (with line information) are now generated for duplicate
definitions of methods, attributes, and our-scoped symbols.
The ** quantifier now supports blocks on the right side, and properly handles
spaces around it.
Variables except parameters now default to a type of Mu but an initial value
of Any.
New setting variables: $*ARGFILES, %*ENV, $*PROGRAM_NAME.
New classes: Callable, Code, Block, Routine, Submethod, Method, EnumMap
&?BLOCK, &?ROUTINE, $?POSITION, $?FILE, and $?LINE are now supported.
New methods: Block.arity, Block.count, Code.outer, CallFrame.args,
CallFrame.subname, CallFrame.dynamic-caller, Rat.numerator,
Rat.denominator, Rat.nude, FatRat.new, (Solomon Foster) Complex.re,
Complex.im.
New setting functions: lines, floor, ceiling, round, truncate, conjugate,
sign, (Solomon Foster) abs.
[Selected bug fixes]
Multiple inheritance now actually works.
[Very internal changes]
Getting involved
Contact sorear in irc.freenode.net #perl6 or via the sender address of
this mailing. Also check out the TODO file; whether you want to work
on stuff on it, or have cool ideas to add to it, both are good.
Future directions
Next month will see a major focus on spectests. Solomon Foster thinks
I can quadruple passing tests in a week; I'm not sure about that but
hope to at least do so in a month. Other features that are planned for
next month include transparent use of CLR libraries, Buf, roles, and
pseudo packages like OUTER::.
[1] https://github.com/downloads/sorear/niecza/niecza-7.zip
[2] https://github.com/sorear/niecza