This book is an unparalleled sneak-peek of what's coming in the widely-anticipated Perl 6. It uncovers groundbreaking new developments in Parrot--the interpreter engine that will execute code written in the new Perl 6 language and the most revolutionary change in the language itself--Apocalypse 12 on objects. It also includes expanded coverage of Apocalypse 5 (regular expressions) and Apocalypse 6 (subroutines).
There is nothing as scary to the average programmer (to the average human, really) as the single word "change." Change means taking the time to learn a new way of doing things. Changes can be annoying: moving to a new home, finding the shelves reorganized at your neighborhood computer store, or ordering your favorite beer at your favorite pub only to be told they don't make it anymore. But changes can also be good: a vacation on the beach, a promotion, a raise, finding the perfect shortcut to work that shaves 20 minutes off your commute. This book is all about change . . . the good kind.
Perl 6 isn't far enough along to support a book on the level of Programming Perl. However, as development goes on, we've found that the accumulated lore of the past few years is quite an entry barrier for new people. This book is a snapshot of the current status, designed to ease that first step. It covers the project through Apocalypse 12 and the 0.1.0 release of Parrot. We expect that this will be the last edition of the book, but we will publish updates as needed.
