Rakudo is a compiler initially built on the Parrot virtual machine. Later, it started using the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), but in the end, the developers of Parrot created their own virtual machine, MoarVM (Metamodel on a Runtime Virtual Machine (www.moarvm.org)). Currently, the support of JVM is limited, and the main virtual machine is MoarVM.
Rakudo itself is a Perl 6 compiler. For us, the most useful compiler is Rakudo Star, which is a distribution including the compiler as well as a number of Perl 6 modules and a few command-line tools, such as a module installer. In this book, we will use the Rakudo Star compiler to run programs in Perl 6.
Rakudo's website is rakudo.org.
