Weekly Perl 6 mailing list summary for 14-20 January, 2007

  This week on the Perl 6 mailing lists

     "For the first time in the two months I've been working on Parrot,
     'make test' completely succeeded -- and with some TODO tests passing,
     to boot!"

     -- James Keenan, sharing the good news in 'All tests passing!
     <http://xrl.us/ucoa>'


  Language

   Numeric Semantics <http://xrl.us/t3o7>

     When we last looked at this thread, a subthread discussing Euclidean
     versus conventional definitions of modulus was underway. The original
     thread started when Luke Palmer asked for a clear definition of when
     math should use floating points and when it should be integer-based.

     The subthread was further expanded, with TSa suggesting that all
     rounding functions such as floor, round and trunc take an optional
     second argument which defines the jump size. TSa also proposed a
     number of division function pairs, such as `fdiv` and `fmod` for
     flooring division and modulus, or `tdiv` and `tmod` for truncating
     division and modulus. Smylers felt that this would introduce far too
     many functions in to the Perl core, given that few people would use
     them. Smylers felt that it was more appropriate to have them as
     modules. Jonathan Lang added that it was unlikely anyone would need
     multiple definitions of division and modulus at any given time, so
     modules made sense. The only question he saw was which definition was
     default, the mathematically elegant one or the industry standard one.

     Meanwhile, the main thread was revived when TSa replied to Luke
     Palmer's question of whether 1 is different from 1.0. TSa wanted 1 to
     be an Int and 1.0 to be a Num. There was some discussion with Jonathan
     Lang over the relationship between Int and Num, specifically which one
     `does` the other.

  Parrot Porters

   [perl #41237] [TODO] PMC Class name IDs will require a dot in front
   <http://xrl.us/ucnv>

     Earlier, Jerry Gay created ticket [perl #41237] <http://xrl.us/t9n9>
     to address an item in DEPRECATED.pod about PMC Class name IDs. He felt
     that either it should use one syntax or the other, but not both.

     Allison Randal preferred eliminating the dot in classname IDs. Matt
     Diephouse, on the other hand, liked the dot. Klaas-Jan Stol added that
     the dot indicates that it is PIR not pure PASM.

     Allison thought that if Matt used it to disambiguate between types and
     local variables, it was a matter of sigils. She asked why put sigils
     on types instead of putting them in variables, and if a dot was the
     ideal sigil for types.

     Patrick R. Michaud also spoke out in favor of the dot.

   Global Variables in tools/build/ops2pm.pl: What is their rationale?
   Could they be refactored? <http://xrl.us/ucnw>

     James Keenan wondered if he should look at refactoring
     `tools/build/ops2pm.pl`. Following his successful refactor of
     `pmc2c.pl`, he has had requests to look at other build tools. His
     primary suggestion was to eliminate global variables, but first he
     hoped to hear suggestions from people who had worked on the file, in
     case there was a reason for the global variables.

     Jerry Gay felt that the global variables were a result of lax coding
     practices early in the project. He agreed with refactoring.

   [svn:parrot-pdd] r16594 - trunk/docs/pdds <http://xrl.us/ucnx>

     Allison Randal added specifications for the I/O object iterator API,
     which closed ticket [perl #33962] <http://xrl.us/tz48>.

   [perl #41263] [PDD] should/can high-level classes be constructed at
   compile-time? <http://xrl.us/ucny>

     In ticket [perl #41263] <http://xrl.us/ucoh>, Allison Randal split out
     part of the problem described in ticket [perl #40443]
     <http://xrl.us/r5xf>. The issue is that classes are only constructed
     at runtime, which has negative impacts. She suggested possible
     workarounds.

   [perl #41264] [PDD] should properties get serialized?
   <http://xrl.us/ucnz>

     Allison Randal created ticket [perl #41264] <http://xrl.us/ucoi>,
     which was previously part of ticket [perl #40443]
     <http://xrl.us/r5xf>. She noted that properties are not serialized, so
     a program compiled to PBC won't run.

   [perl #41265] [TODO] PGE: refactor pod_comment rule into PGE/Util.pbc
   <http://xrl.us/ucn4>

     Patrick R. Michaud created ticket [perl #41265] <http://xrl.us/ucoj>.
     He would like to have a common rule in PGE::Util which can be imported
     in to individual grammars. The rule would describe how to use a
     `pod_comment` rule for parsing POD.

   [perl #41266] [PDD] object instantiation, new method
   <http://xrl.us/ucn5>

     In ticket [perl #41266] <http://xrl.us/ucok>, Allison Randal made a
     note to consider object instantiation as a method call on a class
     object instead of an opcode on a type ID. Kevin Tew voiced his support
     for the idea.

   [perl #41267] [TODO] rename 'clip' pdd directory to 'draft'
   <http://xrl.us/ucn6>

     In ticket [perl #41267] <http://xrl.us/ucom>, Jerry Gay proposed that
     the `clip` directory be renamed as `draft` because the directory is
     now being used for drafts rather than notes.

   [perl #41268] [PATCH] Fix C<make world> error at src/pdb.c
   <http://xrl.us/ucn8>

     Lee Duhem reported an error seen when doing a `make world`. A patch to
     fix this was attached to ticket [perl #41268] <http://xrl.us/ucon>.

   [perl #41269] [PATCH] fix some failed test in
   F<t/compilers/tge/grammar.t> <http://xrl.us/ucn9>

     Lee Duhem attached a patch to fix some failing tests to ticket [perl
     #41269] <http://xrl.us/ucoo>. Patrick R. Michaud asked Lee to verify
     the bug in the current revision; he thought it had been fixed in
     r16520.

   All tests passing! <http://xrl.us/ucoa>

     An excited James Keenan reported that he had just seen his first
     instance of all tests passing, with the added bonus of some `TODO`
     tests also passing.

  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/>