Press Release
July 29, 2004
"Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials": An Inside Glimpse at a Work in Progress
Sebastopol, CA--There's a certain fascination in watching a work in
progress. When you observe a building under construction, for instance,
you may be able to visualize the form that it will eventually take, but
there are likely to be some surprises along the way. There may be
unexpected features, or a few pleasing touches here and there. Whether the
end result ultimately does justice to the development process is something
that will have to be determined, but studying the construction itself is
an intellectual and creative exercise that lends an added element of
interest to whatever emerges. The creation of a programming language is
much the same, and fascinated viewers have watched the making of Perl 6
unfold with great interest. In Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials (O'Reilly,
US $29.95) by Allison Randal, Dan Sugalski, and Leopold Totsch, Perl
programmers and others are offered an unparalleled sneak-preview of the
development of Perl 6.
Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials is an introduction to the latest
in-progress technology of Perl 6, including an insider's look by authors
who are members of the core development team. The preview goes beyond the
Perl 6 syntax to include succinct but thorough coverage of groundbreaking
new developments in Parrot, the language-independent virtual machine
created as part of Perl 6. Parrot can be used to interpret other dynamic
languages such as Python, Tcl, Ruby, and even Java.
The book offers an explanation of the various stages of the project with
reference material for programmers who are interested in the planned
changes or who want to contribute to the project. As the authors explain,
"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 0.1.0
release of Parrot."
As stated, Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials reveals the most revolutionary
change in the language itself: Apocalypse 12 on objects. The Apocalypse
design documents explain significant changes in the new Perl 6 features,
numbered according to the chapters in O'Reilly's Programming Perl, or
Camel book. 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. The book also includes expanded coverage of
Apocalypse 5 (regular expressions) and Apocalypse 6 (subroutines).
The earlier edition of this book, Perl 6 Essentials, was the first book
to offer a peek into the next version of the Perl language. This new
edition goes even further into the exciting code and new language features
that are the future of Perl. Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials will both whet
and satisfy the curiosity of interested observers of the project, showing
how changes in the language will make Perl more powerful and easier to
use.
Additional Resources:
Perl 6 and Parrot Essentials
Allison Randal, Dan Sugalski, and Leopold Totsch
ISBN 0-596-00737-X, 279 pages, $29.95 US, $43.95 CA
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000
About O'Reilly
O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.
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