Weekly Perl 6 mailing list summary for 29 October - 4 November, 2006

  This week on the Perl 6 mailing lists

     "That fuzziness is classic $Larry. Some of the rest of @Larry can be
     more *mumble*matic."

     -- chromatic in 'where constraints as roles <http://xrl.us/susf>'


  Language

   where constraints as roles <http://xrl.us/susf>

     A few clarifications were added to the original thread 'how typish are
     roles'.

     In the subthread 'where constraints as roles', started by Trey Harris,
     the discussion from the previous week continued.

     Last week, Trey asked if a `where` clause or junctive type defines an
     anonymous role, while a type parameter defines a lexical role, and
     suggested adding this information to S12. Larry Wall replied, saying
     that a `where` clause is there for pattern matching...but went on to
     note other possibilities. Jonathan Lang felt that S02 gave some
     indication of what Trey suggested, and that `where` clauses and
     junctive types should not be turned in to roles: roles and junctive
     types should be turned in to `where` constraints.

   [svn:perl6-synopsis] r13350 - doc/trunk/design/syn <http://xrl.us/szne>

     Larry Wall committed a patch on applying dwimmy hypers to hashes, then
     disagreed with himself...maybe. He sees two ways of looking at it, and
     finds merit in both.

   mmd-draft.txt <http://xrl.us/susg>

     Earlier, TSa noted that multi-method dispatch is not yet in S06 and
     asked if someone could explain the voting mechanism used to select the
     dispatch target.

     This week, Audrey Tang replied that the plan had been for Larry Wall
     to review it in Brazil, but that it may now have to wait a while as
     Larry cannot make it to Brazil. She tried to answer the question on
     voting, and elaborated further on #perl6. TSa summarized her
     explanation.

  Parrot Porters

   [perl #40443] Separate vtable functions from methods (using :vtable)
   <http://xrl.us/r5xe>

     Earlier, in ticket [perl #40443] <http://xrl.us/r5xf>, Matt Diephouse
     noted that it was decided at OSCON 2006 that vtables and methods
     should be separated.

     Jonathan wondered if this should be postponed until the object and
     namespace issues have been dealt with. Allison Randal summarized the
     results of her last conversation with Chip Salzenberg on the topic.
     Jonathan thanked her for the specifications and said he would work on
     an implementation.

     This week, Jonathan reported the implementation in r15039. Allison
     suggested a two release cycle for deprecating the old syntax. A bug
     she reported with Punie was addressed in r15048, but some tests
     continued to fail (the bug was covered in '[perl #40626] [BUG] :vtable
     fails for subclasses of core classes <http://xrl.us/szn7>'). There was
     further discussion about optimization, with it being agreed that first
     the functionality would be added, and later the code could be
     improved.

   Anyone relying on objects stringifying to class names?
   <http://xrl.us/sznk>

     Jonathan Worthington noted that if you have a ParrotObject instance
     and write `$S0 = foo`, $S0 will contain the name of the class. He
     finds this problematic because you cannot overload what class it
     stringifies to. He would like to get rid of this but asked if anyone
     was relying on the current behavior. He wants to get rid of it in a
     week.

     Patrick R. Michaud joked that he thought a week was too long to wait
     for its removal. He had no objections so long as tests still pass.
     Allison Randal agreed with a week, provided tests pass.

     Later, Jonathan wrote that he had been confused when he wrote the
     post; the code is being used in PGE, for instance.

   [perl #40608] key_append segfault <http://xrl.us/sznm>

     In ticket [perl #40608] <http://xrl.us/sznn>, Jonathan Worthington
     showed a program which segfaults in Parrot on Windows. This issue was
     resolved in r15043.

   RFC: Actions without barriers <http://xrl.us/szno>

     Bob Rogers considered different approaches to eliminating the
     continuation barrier from action invocation and wondered if his latest
     idea was worth pursuing. Allison Randal replied that she saw the
     temptation in the solution, but was glad Bob had paused to ask because
     it would ultimately lead in the wrong direction. They discussed the
     matter further.

   :init Where should we put the flag? <http://xrl.us/sznp>

     Kevin Tew implemented `:init` some time ago but cannot check it in
     because it requires a flag. Currently he is using
     `PObj_private7_FLAG`; Leopold Toetsch suggested `PObj_private2_FLAG`
     but that broke tests. He would like to know what flag he should use.

     Jonathan Worthington asked if `PObj_private3_FLAG` could be used, as
     it is labeled as unused.

     Leopold Toetsch suggested 2 or 0. Kevin included his failing test
     results with these flags.

   [perl #40616] [PATCH] Helping splint check further through the parrot
   source <http://xrl.us/sznq>

     This week, Paul Cochrane submitted the following patches:

     * In ticket [perl #40616] <http://xrl.us/sznr>, he submitted a patch
       to enable lint checking of Parrot source code.
     * In '[perl #40618] [TODO] Tcl - Missing channelId tests in t/cmd_puts.t
       <http://xrl.us/szns>' (ticket [perl #40618] <http://xrl.us/sznt>), he
       responded to task [perl #39704] <http://xrl.us/sznu> with tests for
       channelld for Tcl.
     * In '[perl #40619] [TODO] Tcl - need -regexp tests
       in t/cmd_switch.t <http://xrl.us/sznv>' (ticket [perl #40619]
       <http://xrl.us/sznw>), he supplied Tcl tests of `-regexp` in response
       to cage ticket [perl #39704] <http://xrl.us/sznu>.
     * '[perl #40620] [TODO] Tcl - tests error wrongly in t/cmd_expr.t
       <http://xrl.us/sznx>' is ticket [perl #40620] <http://xrl.us/szny>
       and relates to task [perl #39704] <http://xrl.us/sznu>. It corrects a
       false negative in Tcl's stringified integers test.
     * '[perl #40627] [TODO] Tcl - test actual flushing in t/cmd_flush.t
       <http://xrl.us/szn8>' is ticket [perl #40627]
       <http://rt.perl.org/rt3/Ticket/Display.html?id=40627> and
       relates to cage task [perl #39704] <http://xrl.us/sznu> on testing
       flushing for Tcl.
     * '[perl #40628] [TODO] Tcl - need to test reading something in
       t/cmd_gets.t <http://xrl.us/szn9>' (ticket [perl #40628]
       <http://xrl.us/szvh>) addresses cage task [perl #39704]
       <http://xrl.us/sznu> and tests reading something in `t/cmd_gets.t` for
       Tcl.
     * '[perl #40629] [TODO] Tcl - need to test classes in
       t/cmd_stringOld.t <http://xrl.us/szoa>' addresses cage task [perl
       #39704] <http://xrl.us/sznu>. The patch tests classes in
       `t/cmd_stringOld.t` for Tcl and is ticket [perl #40629]
       <http://xrl.us/szvi>.
     * In '[perl #40637] [TODO] Tcl - Throw exception
       about invalid boolean type in src/pmc/tclstring.pmc
       <http://xrl.us/szof>' (ticket [perl #40637] <http://xrl.us/szvj>) in
       response to cage task [perl #39704] <http://xrl.us/sznu>, Paul
       submitted a patch to throw an exception about an invalid boolean type
       for Tcl in `src/pmc/tclstring.pmc`.
     * In ticket [perl #40638]
       <http://xrl.us/szvk>, posted as '[perl #40638] [TODO] Tcl - work out
       why hash implementation insufficient in src/pmc/tclarray.pmc
       <http://xrl.us/szog>', Paul responded to cage task [perl #39704]
       <http://xrl.us/sznu> with a patch to
       `languages/tcl/src/pmc/tclarray.pmc`.
     * Message '[perl #40639] [TODO]
       Tcl - hack src/pmc/tclfloat.pmc to approximate right precision output
       <http://xrl.us/szoh>' (ticket [perl #40639] <http://xrl.us/szvm>,
       addressing cage task [perl #39704] <http://xrl.us/sznu>) fixes
       `tclfloat.pmc` to the right precision of output.
     * '[perl #40640]
       [TODO] Tcl - move backslash hash and hex hash into a class attribute
       <http://xrl.us/szoi>' (ticket [perl #40640] <http://xrl.us/szvn>) is
       in response to cage task [perl #39704] <http://xrl.us/sznu>. The patch
       moves backslash and hexadecimal hashes into a class attribute.

   'make rsync' failing - required anyway? <http://xrl.us/sznz>

     Paul Cochrane reported a "is this still working" comment he found in
     `config/gen/makefiles/root.in`. He found that it didn't work, and
     wondered if this was something which should be fixed. If so, someone
     else should look at it because Paul does not have privileges to do it.

   PDD 25 "Concurrency" - first review <http://xrl.us/szn2>

     Allison Randal announced the first version of PDD25 on threading and
     concurrency. She opened the floor to discussion. Joshua Gatcomb linked
     to a related Perlmonks thread <http://perlmonks.org/?node_id=580004>.

     Allison thanked him for the link and wrote a bit about the lo
     language, which uses 'futures' for concurrency. Larry Wall replied
     that lazy lists can be viewed as a form of futures.

   [perl #40625] [BUG] website pointer to PDD25 is broken
   <http://xrl.us/szn3>

     Jerry Gay created ticket [perl #40625] <http://xrl.us/szn4> to note
     that the link on parrotcode.org to PDD25 is broken.

   STM runtime test hanging intermittently <http://xrl.us/szn6>

     Paul Cochrane reported a hanging test in `t/stm/runtime.t` and
     wondered if other people have seen the same problem. He included his
     configuration.

   [perl #40631] [TODO] add tests for native PMC types <http://xrl.us/szob>

     In ticket [perl #40631] <http://xrl.us/szvo>, Jerry Gay requested some
     tests for native PMC types in the `t/pmc` directory. At the moment
     there is just one test for each which verifies if they can be created.
     The testing should be much more extensive.

   [perl #40632] [TODO] classify failing tests for next release
   <http://xrl.us/szoc>

     In ticket [perl #40632] <http://xrl.us/szvp>, Jerry Gay noted the
     tests which are failing. Will Coleda included his list of failures.

   [perl #40634] leftover files... <http://xrl.us/szod>

     Will Coleda created ticket [perl #40634] <http://xrl.us/szvq>. He
     listed some unexpected files. He thought that one should be ignored by
     svn, and the others should be cleaned up after creation.

   [perl #40635] osx build warning: <http://xrl.us/szoe>

     Will Coleda posted some warnings he got on OSX to ticket [perl #40635]
     <http://xrl.us/szvr>.

   [perl #40646] [TODO] PGE - add tests for <alpha+[_]>, <alpha-[Jj]>, etc.
   <http://xrl.us/szoj>

     In ticket [perl #40646] <http://xrl.us/szvs>, Patrick R . Michaud
     invited people to write tests for code which adds combined enumerated
     classes to PGE.

   [perl #40653] [CAGE] [TODO] test pdd format <http://xrl.us/szom>

     Jerry Gay created ticket [perl #40653] <http://xrl.us/szvt> for the
     task of testing that PDDs follow the format laid out in
     `docs/pdds/pdd_template.pod`.

  Users

   variables inside an eval <http://xrl.us/szop>

     Richard Hainsworth asked how to use a scalar inside an eval with Perl
     5 from within Pugs. Audrey Tang reported the bug fixed as of r14574.

  Acknowlegements

     This summary was prepared using Mail::Summary::Tools
     <http://xrl.us/qvno>, available on CPAN.

     If you appreciate Perl, consider contributing to the Perl Foundation
     <http://donate.perlfoundation.org> to help support the development of
     Perl.

     Yuval Kogman helped with this week's summary.

     Thank you to everyone who has pointed out mistakes and offered
     suggestions for improving this series. Comments on this summary can be
     sent to Ann Barcomb, <[email protected]>.

  Distribution

     This summary can be found in the following places:

     * use.perl.org <http://use.perl.org/>
     * The Pugs blog <http://pugs.blogs.com/>
     * The perl6-announce mailing list <http://xrl.us/qycj>
     * ONLamp <http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/>

  See Also

     * Perl Foundation activities <http://blog.perlfoundation.org>
     * Perl 6 Development <http://dev.perl.org/perl6>
     * Planet Perl Six <http://planetsix.perlfoundation.org/>