Weekly Perl 6 mailing list summary for 11-17 March, 2007

  This week on the Perl 6 mailing lists

     Due to a lack of free time, I will be unable to continue creating the
     Perl 6 summaries after April. We are looking for a volunteer or group
     of volunteers to take over the task.

     Please contact me if you would like more information about what the
     job entails (contact information can be found at the end of this
     post).


  Language

   Some questions about multislices and other things <http://xrl.us/vdkm>

     Ryan Richter translated the Perl 5 Markov chain to Perl 6. He wondered
     if he has the correct syntax; he cannot test it because Pugs doesn't
     have full multislice support yet.

     Larry Wall noted that `<==` had become `<<==` recently, and gave a few
     other comments.

   [svn:perl6-synopsis] r14325 - doc/trunk/design/syn <http://xrl.us/vdkn>

     A commit by Larry Wall included a specification for the version
     sharing and emulation model for libraries. Zev Benjamin wondered if
     there could be an API version attribute. Larry thought that this was
     covered by 'emulation', but that maybe an API naming convention was
     needed. John Macdonald added his thoughts on the terminology employed.

   [svn:perl6-synopsis] r14339 - doc/trunk/design/syn <http://xrl.us/vdky>

     A commit by Larry Wall clarified S02, S03, S04, and S06. The explicit
     pipe target became `@(*)` or `@@(*)`. Pushy pipes were modified.
     `$?BLOCK` returns a list of labels.

   DFA rules and p5's $/ <http://xrl.us/vdk6>

     Brad Bowman wanted to know if the form of per-filehandle input record
     separators had been added to the Synopses.

     Larry Wall replied that it hasn't been, although it was discussed. He
     added a remark to `Functions.pod` about `.split` on filehandles.

  Parrot Porters

   [perl #41364] [PATCH] Fixed object vtable method overrides in PIR
   <http://xrl.us/u6hs>

     Earlier, in ticket [perl #41364] <http://xrl.us/u3h4>, Patrick R.
     Michaud noted that the double-underscore method of overriding vtable
     methods cannot be deprecated until ticket [perl #40626]
     <http://xrl.us/s5rj> is resolved. Allison approved of the patch by
     Alek Storm and requested a regression test. She included a rough
     version.

     Alek wondered if it could be committed now that 0.4.9 has been
     released. Jonathan Worthington noted some problems he had had with
     applying it. Alek discovered that this was due to a change in r41549,
     and updated the patch. Jonathan applied the patch manually in r17514
     so that it could be included in the release.

   [perl #40544] [NEW] Test for DOS line endings in Parrot text files
   <http://xrl.us/u24q>

     Earlier, in ticket [perl #40544] <http://xrl.us/so8x>, Paul Cochrane
     submitted a test which checks for DOS line endings in the Parrot
     distribution.

     Will Coleda recently noted that some of the problems are related to
     [perl #41485] <http://xrl.us/u3sb> and that when he sets the
     properties in his working copy, the tests succeed. Paul provided an
     update: he will be do a few commits which update the svn eol property.
     Because a large number of files will be affected, the update will done
     in a small time slot.

     As of r17102, it was fixed.

     However, on March 15th, Will Coleda asked Paul and Jerry Gay to insure
     that the test doesn't encourage people to update files which would
     break the Windows build, because the tests were failing again.

   [perl #41579] [BUG] t/pmc/ref.t, t/pmc/threads.t file with -C runcore
   <http://xrl.us/u25b>

     Previously, in ticket [perl #41579] <http://xrl.us/u6us>, Patrick R .
     Michaud reported two failing tests. chromatic confirmed that this was
     not restricted to x86_64.

     This week chromatic supplied a patch but he wasn't sure that it was
     correct with regard to the Ref PMC.

   [perl #41764] [PATCH] teach differentiation of C<exit 1> in exception
   handling in docs/compiler_faq.pod <http://xrl.us/vdmh>

     In ticket [perl #41764] <http://xrl.us/vk8s>, Julian Fondren submitted
     a patch because exception severity wasn't documented. It was applied
     in r17431.

   [perl #41771] Uncaught Parse Error Leads to Segfault
   <http://xrl.us/vdmi>

     chromatic reported a segmentation fault in ticket [perl #41771]
     <http://xrl.us/vk8t>. He included some code which demonstrated the
     problem. Bob Rogers claimed that this was the same issue as [perl
     #41097] <http://xrl.us/vk8u>.

   [Parrot::Embed] Use ExtUtils::MakeMaker for In-Tree Parrot::Embed Builds
   <http://xrl.us/vdmj>

     chromatic supplied a patch which tells ExtUtils::MakeMaker how to
     build Parrot::Embed from a compiled but uninstalled Parrot. He
     requested tests from non-Linux platforms. Jonathan Worthington found
     some problems, but thought that they might be due to his installation,
     not chromatic's patch.

   [PDD15 PROPOSAL] Pluggable MRO <http://xrl.us/vdmk>

     Jonathan Worthington outlined one of the things he'd like to see in
     PDD15: method resolution order. Larry Wall offered his thoughts on
     children and parents having different method resolution orders.

     Nicholas Clark said that Brandon Black has been working on making
     pluggable method resolution order for Perl 5, and suggested that
     Jonathan talk to him about it.

   [perl #41776] [RFE] ParrotIO objects that work on strings
   <http://xrl.us/vdmm>

     In ticket [perl #41776] <http://xrl.us/vk8v>, Will Coleda noted that
     it should be possible to redirect input from and output to ParriotIO
     objects which don't perform IO. This was documented in
     `docs/BROKEN.pod`.

   [perl #41777] [RFE] Submethods <http://xrl.us/vdmn>

     Ticket [perl #417777] <http://xrl.us/vk8w> contains an entry from
     `docs/BROKEN.pod` which needs to be fixed.

   [perl #41779] [RFE] Anonymous Classes <http://xrl.us/vdmo>

     Will Coleda copied this item from `docs/BROKEN.pod` to the ticketing
     system, creating ticket [perl #41779] <http://xrl.us/vk8x>.

   [perl #41778] [RFE] Lexical Classes <http://xrl.us/vdmp>

     Ticket [perl #41778] <http://xrl.us/vk8z> documents another item from
     `docs/BROKEN.pod`.

   [perl #41780] [BUG] Nested *Struct PMCs Share State <http://xrl.us/vdmq>

     Another ticket ([perl #41780] <http://xrl.us/vk82>) was created for an
     item in `docs/BROKEN.pod`. chromatic was working on a test case to
     demonstrate the problem.

   [perl #41781] [RFE] Store HLL information in invokable PMCs
   <http://xrl.us/vdmr>

     Ticket [perl #41781] <http://xrl.us/vk83> tracks an entry from
     `docs/BROKEN.pod` which explains that invokable PMCs need a canonical
     way to store their associated HLL source and argument information.

   [perl #41782] [RFE] Allow Runtime Compiler Registration
   <http://xrl.us/vdms>

     Will Coleda copied yet another item from `docs/BROKEN.pod` to the
     ticketing system: [perl #41782] <http://xrl.us/vk84>. Leopold Toesch's
     proposed startup sequence is described in the ticket.

   [perl #41783] [BUG?] main isn't in src/parrot.c <http://xrl.us/vdmt>

     In ticket [perl #41783] <http://xrl.us/vk85>, Will Coleda documented
     the `docs/BROKEN.pod` item from `compilers/imcc/main.c`.

   [perl #41784] [parrotcode] Link to IMCC FAQ is broken
   <http://xrl.us/vdmu>

     Bernhard Schmalhofer reported in ticket [perl #41784]
     <http://xrl.us/vk86> that the link to `IMCC FAQ` is broken in the main
     (parrotcode) FAQ.

   [perl #41786] [PATCH]: tools/build/ops2c.pl refactored
   <http://xrl.us/vdmv>

     James Keenan resubmitted patches previously submitted in [perl #41608]
     <http://xrl.us/vevz>, this time using ticket [perl #41786]
     <http://xrl.us/vk87>. He had some problems with the original
     submissions.

   [perl #41788] [BUG] Real registers are limited to 2 digits
   <http://xrl.us/vdmw>

     Klaas-Jan Stol created ticket [perl #41788] <http://xrl.us/vk88> to
     report that the several registers are limited to 2 digits. Because
     Parrot is no longer limited to 32 registers per type, this can be
     considered a bug.

     Nuno Carvalho submitted a patch to change the lexer to accept
     additional digits. chromatic wondered what the effect would be on the
     register allocator and memory usage. Leopold Toetsch didn't see this
     as a problem. Jonathan Worthington also thought that it would be more
     usual for the programmer to ask Parrot to make the allocation. Nuno
     reminded the list that the field is a type of INTVAL, and therefore
     will already be limited. There was a bit of further discussion on
     this. Allison Randal saw no reason not to limit the lexer to a 32-bit
     integer.

   [perl #41790] [PATCH] Change sub's get_string to return short name
   <http://xrl.us/vdmy>

     Will Coleda created ticket [perl #41790] <http://xrl.us/vk89>. He is
     working on Tcl and needs to know the name of a `.Sub` at runtime and
     included a patch which he'd like to see in 0.4.10. The patch did make
     some tests fail.

     Jonathan Worthington was mostly in favour of the plan, but wanted to
     know more about how the tests were failing. Matt Diephouse liked it
     too; he had nearly changed it himself the previous week. Allison
     Randal approved the change, and it was applied in r17484.

   stuck with tge transformation for pynie using PAST::VarList
   <http://xrl.us/vdm2>

     Klaas-Jan Stol expressed some difficulties he was having with tree
     transformation for Pynie, and asked for help from anyone with
     knowledge in this area.

   [perl #41230] [BUG] t/codingstd/perlcritic.t uses too many resources
   <http://xrl.us/vdm6>

     Earlier, Jerry Gay created ticket [perl #41230] <http://xrl.us/t9n4>.
     Recently, Will Coleda reported that it had been updated to run all the
     policies at once, but to report by policy. This way, each file is only
     processed once.

   [perl #41802] [BUG] GC errors with PGE (may have failing tests!)
   <http://xrl.us/vdm8>

     In ticket [perl #41802] <http://xrl.us/vk9a>, Jerry Gay noted that in
     r17470 he's disabled the `-G` flag on three test files. The change
     addressed some garbage collector bugs, and the ticket prevents the
     (known) issue from being reported.

   [perl #41812] [PATCH 6/6] [lib] Test::More - add isa_ok()
   <http://xrl.us/vdni>

     In tickets [perl #41809] <http://xrl.us/vk9f>, [perl #41810]
     <http://xrl.us/vk9g>, [perl #41811] <http://xrl.us/vk9h>, [perl
     #41812] <http://xrl.us/vk9i>, and [perl #41813] <http://xrl.us/vk9j>,
     Sam Vilain submitted several patches for Test::More.

     The patches do the following:
       * factor out the comparison and test function
       * clean up `test_skip()` output
       * add the `isa_ok()` method
       * refactor `is() :multi` for integers
       * changed `is()` to expect a different order of arguments
       * modify symbol exports in the example

     Allison Randal looked at two of the patches and requested some
     refactoring. She explained in some detail what she is looking for. In
     addition, she suggested removing the `.IMPORT` macros which she had
     introduced.

   [perl #41818] [PATCH */4]: [t/op] add tests for string memory layout
   <http://xrl.us/vdnk>

     Sam Vilain created ticket [perl #41818] <http://xrl.us/vk9k> to
     provide a patch.

   Bug Day for 0.4.10 on 3/17 <http://xrl.us/vdnm>

     Will Coleda announced a Bug Day for 0.4.10 on March 17th. Although
     this Bug Day has passed, there will be others...

   [perl #41819] [PATCH */2]: [t/pmc] minor object-meths.t clean-ups
   <http://xrl.us/vdnn>

     Sam Vilain submitted a patch in ticket [perl #41819]
     <http://xrl.us/vk9m>.

   [PATCH] Free Thread Interpreter Pool During Shutdown
   <http://xrl.us/vdno>

     chromatic supplied a patch which fixed some unneeded output in a
     Valgrind report.

   [PATCH] Free Context After Copy <http://xrl.us/vdnp>

     chromatic had another Valgrind report, and submitted a patch.

   [perl #41825] morph vtable method not working in PIR
   <http://xrl.us/vdnq>

     Richard used ticket [perl #41825] <http://xrl.us/vk9n> to report the
     problem described in the subject, and supplied a code example.

   [perl #41826] vtable method 'find_method' not working in PIR
   <http://xrl.us/vdnr>

     Richard included some example code in ticket [perl #41826]
     <http://xrl.us/vk9o> to demonstrate the problem described in the
     subject.

   [perl #39908] [BUG] IMCC treats $S as a non-register instead of throwing
   an error <http://xrl.us/vdns>

     Nuno Carvalho replied to ticket [perl #39908] <http://xrl.us/vk9p>. In
     the ticket, Matt Diephouse had included an example of the error. Nuno
     noted that this was related to '[perl #41788] [BUG] Real registers are
     limited to 2 digits <http://xrl.us/vdmw>' and attached a patch to
     correct the test. Jerry Gay wanted to see the examples in the ticket
     converted to tests.

   [perl #41827] ICU endian issues causing test failures.
   <http://xrl.us/vdnt>

     In ticket [perl #41827] <http://xrl.us/vk9q>, Joshua Isom reported a
     failure with `t/op/stringu.t`, which was probably due to an assumption
     of small endianness.

   [perl #41829] languages/Zcode is broken <http://xrl.us/vdnu>

     Bernhard Schmalhofer created ticket [perl #41829] <http://xrl.us/vk9r>
     to discuss some errors in `languages/Zcode`.

   [perl #37178] [PATCH] Quiet a few alignment warnings
   <http://xrl.us/vdnv>

     In ticket [perl #37178] <http://xrl.us/vk9s>, Will Coleda applied a
     patch which quieted some alignment warnings. Andy Dougherty had
     created it some time ago. He hoped someone else would take up the task
     of trying to document and check Parrot's alignment assumptions.

     Later, the patch had to be removed because it had introduced some
     problems. One problem was that it incorrectly assumed that all
     compilers accept a `-h`, `--help` or `/?` switch. He and chromatic
     tried to find a solution but were not successful; chromatic promised
     to work on a better patch.

   [perl #41833] [TODO] test conv_i2 opcode <http://xrl.us/vdnw>

     Will Coleda created ticket [perl #41833] <http://xrl.us/vk9t>. In it,
     he said that the `conv_i2` opcode had been resurrected, and that there
     may already be some tests for it.

   [perl #41837] [PATCH] integer overflow in include/parrot/sub.h
   <http://xrl.us/vdnz>

     Ticket [perl #41837] <http://xrl.us/vk9u> demonstrates an integer
     overflow in `include/parrot/sub.h`. chromatic applied the patch in
     r17853.

   Re: [perl #38764] Test results of parrot on Freebsd <http://xrl.us/vdn2>

     Pankaj kaushal, chromatic, and Paul Cochrane discussed ticket [perl
     #38764] <http://xrl.us/vk9v>. Will Coleda had asked for tests to run
     against parrot-0.4.9.

   [perl #40087] [BUG] Segfault in key.pmc <http://xrl.us/vdn4>

     Will Coleda created ticket [perl #40087] <http://xrl.us/qvj4> several
     months ago. Jonathan Worthington tried to reproduce the error and
     requested updated instructions on how to produce the problem.

   [perl #41857] [CAGE] Make a "make valgrind" target <http://xrl.us/vdn5>

     Paul Cochrane wanted a makefile target so that the valgrind tool suite
     could be used. He noted this in ticket [perl #41857]
     <http://xrl.us/vk9w>.

   [perl #41858] [CAGE] Make a reasonable set of rules for splint
   <http://xrl.us/vdn6>

     In ticket [perl #41858] <http://xrl.us/vk9x>, Paul Cochrane reported
     that `splint` creates a number of errors by default, and suggested
     that a set of rules be created for it.

   [perl #41859] [TODO] Replace cage/todo.pod files by RT tickets
   <http://xrl.us/vdn7>

     Paul Cochrane created a ticket to make tickets of cage todo items, and
     then resolved his own ticket ([perl #41859] <http://xrl.us/vk9y>).

   [perl #41860] [CAGE] Run Parrot under Coverity Prevent
   <http://xrl.us/vdn8>

     In ticket [perl #41860] <http://xrl.us/vk9z>, Paul Cochrane noted that
     he wanted to see Parrot running under Coverity Prevent.

   [perl #41861] [TODO] Create (and start the basics of) a cage cleaner
   guide <http://xrl.us/vdn9>

     Paul Cochrane created ticket [perl #41861] <http://xrl.us/vk92> to
     create the TODO item 'create a cage cleaner guide'. It was resolved in
     r17556.

   [perl #41862] [CAGE] Make a reasonable set of rules for lint
   <http://xrl.us/vdoa>

     In ticket [perl #41862] <http://xrl.us/vk93>, Paul Cochrane requested
     a reasonable set of rules for `lint` and provided a suggested starting
     point.

  Compiler

   Parrot, Perl 5 and performance <http://xrl.us/vdob>

     Ozgun wondered if compiling Perl 5 to Parrot byte code would provide
     any performance benefit, and how difficult it would be to do this.

     chromatic explained that it would take quite a bit of effort to
     completely translate Perl 5 syntax. He did expect that it would
     improve performance, but pointed out that Parrot isn't as mature as
     Perl 5. Nicholas Clark said he didn't expect it would create an
     enormous increase in speed. He suggested profiling the Perl
     interpreter rather than profiling the code itself.

     Isaac Gouy noted that PIR is included in the Debian performance
     comparison page which Ozgun had cited.

  Acknowledgements

     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.

     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/>