Re: Topaz and Regular Expressions

According to Ed Peschko:
> I just listened to the topaz talk ( http://www.perl.com/pub/1999/09/topaz.html),
> and found it and accurate in two respects: 1) that a good rewrite
> would lower the barriers to entry for coders (like me) quite a bit, and 2) 
> that the 'hard issues' are going to be what causes its success or failure.

Thanks for the feedback.  Many have disputed one point or another.  :-)

> So I'm surprised that regular expressions weren't mentioned - exactly how 
> entwined is the current implementation around perl5, and how easy will it be 
> to engineer their inclusion in topaz?

I expect very few problems with the regex engine.  It's a separate
language unto itself.  Its connections with Perl's guts are limited to
a few specific points, as I recall: (1) parameter calculations, (2)
returned values, and (3) callouts via (?{}).  No biggie.

The lexer will be a lot more complicated....
-- 
Chip Salzenberg             - a.k.a. -              <[email protected]>
           "I am the Lemon Zester of Destruction!"  //MST3K